The OC Book of Life

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics
ProLife Handbook
Volume 1:
IC XC
NI KA
The Basics
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The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics
Published By:
Orthodox Christians for Life
P.O. Box 805, Melville, NY 11747-0805
Phone: (631) 271-4408
2002 Orthodox Christians for Life

Second Edition, June 1994
Second Printing, March 2001
Electronic Distribution, January 2002
Permission granted to freely repoduce
in whole or part with proper credits
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INTRODUCTION
The Orthodox Church and Abortion:
In its moral teachings, the Orthodox Church has had a long history of outspoken
condemnation of abortion which dates back to Apostolic times. In fact the humanity
of the unborn child and its possession of a soul from the moment of conception has
been almost universally understood in the Eastern Church from the earliest times
and is firmly grounded in Scripture.
The oldest Christian document of authority that condemns abortion is the
Didache or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, a document of the primitive
Church dating back to at least the late First Century. Other similar condemnations
of the practice are found in Canon 63 of the Council of Elvira (306AD); Cannon 21
of the Council of Ankara (314AD); but it is in Cannon 91 of the Quinsext Ecumenical
Council (Trullo, 692AD) that the Churchs teaching on abortion took its final
expression and was formally codified in the document The Photian Collection in
883AD, which remains unaltered to this day.
As clearly delineated in the canons, the Orthodox Church considers abortion as
premeditated murder, and considers the abortionist, the one who procures the
abortion, and the woman who terminates her pregnancy as murderers. Penances of
excommunication for the penitent of up to ten years are prescribed, which is the
same as that for a repentant common murderer. In practice, such penances are
virtually non-existent today, with the emphasis placed on repentance, reconciliation, and the reintegration of the individual into the Church community. The only
time that termination of a pregnancy has been tacitly condoned is where the life of
the mother is at stake as in an ectopic pregnancy or a hysterectomy for a cancerous
uterus. These are cases where the surgical procedure to save the life of the mother
tragically results in the death of the unborn child; there is really no choice as both
mother and the child will die unless medical intervention takes place.
The position of the Orthodox Church on abortion has not changed one iota since
its foundation with Christ and the Apostles. For example at the Twenty Third
Clergy-Lay Congress of the Greek Archdiocese of North and South America held in
Philadelphia in 1976, the following statements on abortion were issued: The
Orthodox Church has a definite, formal, and intended attitude toward abortion. It
condemns all procedures purporting to abort the embryo or fetus, whether by
surgical or medical means. The Orthodox Church brand abortion as murder, that is
the premeditated termination of life of the human being...Decisions of the Supreme
Court and State Legislatures by which abortion, with or without restrictions, is
allowed should be viewed by practicing Christians as an affront to their beliefs in
the sanctity of life.
Other statements are in the same vein: The fact that this interruption (abortion)
takes place at an initial stage in the human life process, makes of course, a
psychological difference, but does not change the nature of the act of abortion being
killing, and as such a very grave sin, because killing is evil...The hundreds of
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thousands of legal abortion in New York hospitals are a case of mass killing.[(1973)Fr John Meyendorff, Dean St. Vladimirs Orthodox Theological Seminary
and Professor of Patristics and Church History], ...human life begins at the moment
of conception and all who hold life sacred and worthy of preservation whenever
possible are obliged at all costs to defend the lives of the unborn children regardless
of the stage of their embryonic development [May 1973, seminar at St. Vladimirs
Orthodox Seminary on Orthodox Approach to Contemporary Medical Ethics].
Metropolitan Ireny at the All American council of the Orthodox Church in America
stated in 1973: The very moral foundations of our society are being subjected to
doubt, and there is no open objection...the whole meaning and context of life is being
reduced to the seeking of material goals, external successes, and the gratification of
the senses...As a horrible symbol of this moral decay I cite the legalization of
abortion, this frightening transgression of the most sacred of all Divine commandments.
The Orthodox Church and Euthanasia:
In its moral teachings, the Orthodox Church condemns euthanasia, either
passive or active. The Church remains a witness to historical Christianitys
understanding of the sacredness of human life. This is reflected by the following
resolutions adopted by the Sixth All-American council of the Orthodox Church in
America (November 10-14, 1980): ...that human life in all its forms is sacred, and
every means must be used for its preservation, protection and defense: political,
economic, legal, moral, and religious... and ...that while, in some cases, artificial
prolongation of a persons biological life may be inconsistent with the proper
understanding of human life, it is to be clearly distinguished from euthanasia with
horror as any other form of deliberate murder.
The Orthodox Church considers such basic needs as nutrition and hydration as
ordinary care and not medical care. The withholding of such basic bodily needs
which would result in the death of an individual is considered to be a form of
euthanasia.
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Abortion: An Orthodox Christian Perspective on the

Sanctity of Human Life
Rev. Deacon John Protopapas, Executive Director,Orthodox Christians for Life
Overview
The Orthodox Church regards abortion as premeditated murder. As such, She
strongly opposes it because God demands the protection of all innocent human life,
including that of the unborn child. The humanity (personhood) of that child exists
from conception, a scientific fact that has always been recognized and unquestioned
in Orthodox theology from the very beginning. Indeed, conception and not birth is
the moment of the union of soul and body.
The Early Church - of which the Orthodox Church is a living witness - expressed
a disgust and horror of abortion at any stage of pregnancy; it always regarded it as
abhorrent and an abomination before God because it is the killing of a human being.
The present-day Orthodox Churchs teaching on abortion can be directly traced to
the earliest written Christian document, the Didache (late 1st Century), constantly
reiterated through the centuries in Patristic writings and canon law, and finally
compiled in the Photian Collection which was adopted as the official ecclesiastical
law book of the Church in 883 A.D. and is still in effect today.
The canons of the Orthodox Church consider abortion as premeditated murder
and all those who participate in the procedure - that is, those who perform, promote,
prescribe, advocate, support and undergo abortion - as murderers. For the penitent,
excommunication of periods up to ten years are still prescribed - the same as for any
repentant murderer.
The Source of Christian Teaching
The teaching of the Orthodox Church on abortion is not arbitrary or the result
of a monastic anti-feminine attitude. The preciousness of pre-natal human life can
be traced throughout both the Old and New Testaments and Jewish Talmudic
tradition. It is even expressed in our modern worship services on the feast days. The
principle theme in the Churchs understanding of the sanctity of human life is the
fact that we are made in the image and likeness of God as illustrated in the Genesis
account - . . . then the Lord formed man of dust from the ground and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (ruah), and became a living
being. . .[Gen 2:7(RSV)]. The breath of life (ruah) is a special gift that God gave
to Adam directly and is not given to the animals (Gen. 1:24-30). Very clearly, man
is not just a superior animal, but a very special creation of God.
Throughout the Old Testament man is revealed not only as a special creature,
but as coming into being for a purpose:
Jeremiah 1:5 the prophet was set aside: Before I was formed in the womb
I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you and appointed you
to be a prophet to the nations.
The messianic passage of Isaiah (49:1,5ff) which prefigures Christ: The Lord
called Me from the womb, from the body of my mother He named Me by
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name . . . and now the Lord says who formed Me from the womb to be His
servant. . .
In Psalm 139:13,16, the Psalmist details an intimate relationship between God
and man: For thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit me together
in my mothers womb...Thy eyes behold my unformed substance; in thy
book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them. . . A similar theme can also be seen in Job
10:8, 9, and 11.
Reflection:
Each human being is unique creation of God. Each one of us has never
been before and will never be again - throughout all eternity each
human being who is, has, and will be conceived is unique.
The basic ethical/moral principle on the sanctity of human life which forbids the
taking of innocent human life appears in the commandment of Exodus 20:13 which
is usually translated, Thou shall not kill. However, the Hebrew word for here
is ratasch which means an intentional and unjustified killing of a human being;
the words for accidental deaths and killing in self defense are katal and harag.
Thus, the commandment should be more correctly translated as, Thou shall not
murder.
Abortion was common in many cultures of antiquity but not with the Jews.
Though there is no specific condemnation of abortion in the Old Testament, biblical
researchers have found no reference to non-theraputic abortion in any of the texts
through 500 AD. In Jewish tradition, deliberate abortion - like the pagan practices
of exposure and human sacrifice - was unthinkable. In fact, when the Jews did revert
to these pagan practices - as in the time of Jeremiah - they were severely punished
by an angry God.
The first direct reference to the death of an unborn child is in Exodus 21:22When men strive together, and hurt a woman with child so that there is
a miscarriage, and yet no harm follows, the one who hurt her shall be fined,
according as a womans husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the
judges determine. The two theological schools in ancient Judaism were the
majority Alexandrian - which required punishment for damage to the fetus depending upon its state of development - and the Palestinian - which only required
punishment for any harm to the mother. Both schools addressed the personhood of
the unborn from a legal rather than a moral aspect and their discussions centered
on either accidental or therapeutic (necessary) abortions. No moral implications can
be drawn from these legal debates, but it is important to note that both condemned
deliberate abortion as disrespect for life and the shedding of innocent blood. The real
distinction between the two concerned the severity of the penalty for an accidental
or therapeutic abortion
The fact that human life is a precious in the sight of God is illustrated in Genesis
9:5-6: For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast
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I will require it and of man; of every mans brother I will require the life of
man. Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed; for
God made man in his own image. Even if an animal killed a man, it was put to
death. However, this is a profoundly interesting passage for another reason: the
second sentence is rendered by many Orthodox Jewish rabbis as: Whoever sheds
the blood of man within man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in
his own image. The phrase man within man is understood to refer to the
unborn child. Consider this passage in context with the rest of the verse: Whoever
sheds the blood of man within man (man by man) shall his blood be shed;
for God made man in his own image. And you be fruitful and multiply, bring
forth abundantly on the earth and multiply in it. Taken in its totality, it is
easy to discern why modern Orthodox Jews prohibit abortion with very few
exceptions. The Jewish abhorrence of the shedding of innocent blood and their
respect for human life - including that of the unborn - was the foundation for the
Christian doctrine on abortion.
Another dimension of the reverence for human life can be seen as St. Paul
declares that the body is the dwelling place of God, likening it to a temple: Do you
know that you are Gods temple and that Gods Spirit dwells in you? If any
one destroys Gods temple, God will destroy him. For Gods temple is holy,
and that temple you are. [1 Cor 3:16-17 (RSV)]; . . .for we are the temple of
the living God; as God said, I will live in them, and move among them, and
I will be their God. . . [2 Cor. 6:16, RSV] Do you not know that your body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you which you have from God? You are
not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
[1 Cor. 6:19-20, RSV]
Within Mans being is a place of residence for Gods Spirit, something again unique
in Creation. Thus Man exists at the intersection of the spiritual and physical worlds
- between heaven and earth - and, as a creation of God, is worthy (axios) to worship,
adore, and be in communion with Him. Man is much, much more than merely a
rational animal. He a worshipping creature - Homo Adorans, as Fr. Alexander
Schmemann has described him in For the Life of the World. Man, then, is a unity
of the material and the spiritual. Scripturally, the whole man prays to, adores, and
worships God and, so, Man is a creature uniquely created to love, worship and be in
communion with God as is no other part of Creation.
Orthodox Worship
If we turn to the Festal cycle, the consciousness of the personhood of the unborn
is strikingly manifest especially in three important Feasts: The first is the Feast of
the Conception of John the Baptist (September 23 ) in which we sing: Rejoice, O
barren one, who had not given birth; for behold you have clearly conceived
the one who was about to illuminate the whole universe, blighted by
blindness. Shout in joy, O Zacharias, crying in favor; truly the one to be
born is a prophet of the High! John the Baptist existed as a human being and
a part of Gods plan of salvation from the moment of his conception.
The second is the Conception of the Theotokos (December 9). Here the vesperal
hymn proclaims: Behold the promises of the Prophets are realized for the
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Holy Mountain is planted in the womb, the Divine Ladder is set up, the
great Throne of the King is ready, the place for the passage of the Lord is
prepared . . . It is notable that both Elizabeth and Anna were advanced in years
and barren. Thus they were considered cursed in the Jewish tradition where
children were a sign of Gods blessing. (Consider that mind-set with our own of today
and how Gods Plan is being affected by the hundreds of millions who will never
participate in it.)
The quintessential Feast illustrating the Churchs belief of the importance of
human beings from the moment of conception is the Annunciation (March 25) which
is so important that a Divine Liturgy must be served even when it falls on Great and
Holy Friday! The Annunciation Troparion makes a most profound statement:
Today is the beginning of our salvation, the revelation of the eternal
mystery! The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin as Gabriel
announces the coming of grace... This is a far cry from the pro-choice rhetoric
of Who knows when life begins? or the degradation of the unborn by calling him
a blob of tissue and a product of conception. Can any Christian seriously propose
that Jesus Christ was ever a blob or an appendage of the Theotokoss body?
At the Great Compline the hymnography makes this astonishing claim: ...O
marvel! God has come among men; He who cannot be contained in a womb;
the timeless One enters time...For God empties Himself, takes flesh, and is
fashioned as a creature, when the angel tells the pure Virgin of her
conception... This is not sung at the feast of our Lords Nativity but at His
conception!!! Such concepts as viability and quickening are utterly without
meaning and irrelevant.
Scripture and the Unborn
In the New Testament, consciousness of the personhood of the unborn is clearly
manifested. The same word - brephos - is used for the child in the womb as out of the
womb unlike modern medical and scientific distinctions of zygote, embryo,
fetus etc. used to differentiate among the stages of pre-natal life. The Latin word
fetus simply means little one and was never intended as a means of denying
humanity to the child dwelling in his mothers womb. A similar pattern of language
occurs in the Old Testament as in the book of Job 3:16 in which he refers to: Infants
[gohlal] which never saw the light. In Luke 1:41 we find another astonishing
image of the scriptural consciousness of the personhood of the unborn: And when
Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb Here,
the unborn John the Baptist recognizes and rejoices at the unborn Messiah - a
fetus greeting a fetus. This is not just a literary device as some would insist.
It illustrates the narrators consciousness of the already existing personality - and
Divine calling - of an unborn human being. We do celebrate the birth of John the
Baptist, the Theotokos, and the Lord Jesus Himself, but we also celebrate their
conception - their entry into time and the physical world - the fulness of time as
it is called by St. Paul.
A more profound point to this all is that these feasts, especially the AnnunciaPage 8
tion, point to the Incarnation. By Jesus Christ taking on our humanity from the
moment of conception, existing in the pre-natal condition in the womb of the
Theotokos, experiencing birth, living through infancy to adulthood, and finally
physical death, God sanctified every moment of human existence - from conception
to death. There is more to this - God also completely identifies with us in our fallen
suffering nature, and by dying for us on the cross, He expresses His solidarity with
us: whether we are a zygote, embryo, fetus, infant, child, adolescent, adult, or
elderly: human existence is a continuum from conception, and - yes - beyond death
to life eternal in the Lord!
The Orthodox Church has had a long history of outspoken condemnation of
abortion which dates from Apostolic times. Although the aforementioned feasts did
not exist in Apostolic times, they illustrate the living Tradition from which Church
teaching on the uniqueness and sanctity of human life, born and unborn sprang
from - it was no vacuum!!!
What The Early Church Said:
The Didache - First Century
Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not corrupt boys; do not
fornicate; do not steal; do not practice magic; do not go in for sorcery; do
not murder a child by abortion or kill a newborn infant.
The Epistle of Barnabas - First Century:
You shall love your neighbor more than your own life. You shall not
slay the child by abortion. You shall not kill that which has been generated.
Apologia of Athenagoras of Athens- 177 AD.:
What reason would we have to commit murder when we say that
women who induce abortions are murderers, and will have to give account
of it to God? For the same person would not regard a fetus in the womb as
a living thing and therefore, an object of Gods care, and at the same time
slay it, once it had come to life.
Tertulian (Western Church) - Third Century:
Abortion is a precipitation of murder, nor does it matter whether or not
one takes a life when formed, or drives it away when forming, for he is also
a man who is about to be one.
Clement of Alexandria - Third century:
Universal life would proceed according to nature if we would practice
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continence from the beginning instead of destroying, through immoral

and pernicious acts, human beings who are given birth by Divine Providence.
The Regional Council Of Elvira, Spain - 303A.D.:
Prescribes life-long excommunication for penitent persons involved in
abortion. Eucharist denied even on the death bed.
The Council of Ancyra, Canon 21-314/315A.D

Regarding women who become prostitutes and kill their babies, and
who make it their business to concoct abortives, the former rule barred
them for life from communion, and they are left without recourse. But,
having found a more philanthropic alternative, we have fixed the penalty
at ten years, in accordance with the fixed degrees.
St. Basil The Great (330-379 A. D.):
A woman who deliberately destroys a fetus is answerable for murder.
Those who give potions for the destruction of the child conceived in
the womb are murderers, as are those who take potions which kill the
child.
. . . we do not have a precise distinction between a fetus which has been
formed and one which has not yet been formed.
. . . any hairsplitting distinction as to its being formed or unformed is
inadmissible with us.
St. Gregory of Nyssa (335-394):
There is no question about that which is bred in the uterus, both
growing, and moving from place to place. It remains, therefore that we
must think that the point of commencement of existence is one and the
same for body and soul.
St. John Chrysostom (345-407):
Speaking about those who force a woman to have an abortion to hide
immorality: You do not let a harlot remain a harlot, but make her a
murderer as well.
Regarding the abortionist, St. John considered him/her: . . . worse than a
murderer.
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Quinsext Ecumenical Council, Canon 91-691 A. D.

Decreed that people . . . who furnish drugs for the purpose of procuring abortion, and those who take fetus-killing poisons, they are made
subject to the penalty prescribed for murderers.
All these various writings and canons were codified by St. Photius, Patriarch of
Constantinople in the Ninth Century, into the Photian Collection and are still in
effect today. In fact these teachings were universal in the whole Christian Church,
East and West. Even the Protestant reformers such as Luther and Calvin were
outspoken in their opposition to abortion.
What the Modern Church Says:

Archpriest John Meyendorff, Theologian - 1972:
The fact that this interruption (abortion) takes place at an initial stage
in the human life process makes, of course, a psychological difference, but
does not change the nature of the act of abortion being killing, and as such
a very grave sin, because killing is evil...The hundreds of thousands of legal
abortions performed in New York hospitals are a case of mass killing.
Metropolitan IRENEY, Orthodox Church in America - 1973
The very moral foundations of society are being subjected to doubt,
and there is no open objection . . . the whole meaning and context of life is
being reduced to the seeking of material goals, external success, and the
gratification of the senses . . . As a horrible symbol of this moral decay, I
cite the legalization of abortion, the frightening transgression of the most
sacred of all Divine Commandments.
(In a telegraph to President Nixon in 1973) Together we, the Bishops of the
Orthodox Church in America, wish to convey to you, Mr. President, our
feelings of shock and indignation at the recent ruling of the Supreme
Court on the issue of abortion. We urge you to initiate all constitutional
procedures necessary to reverse this tragic decision.
An abortion for convenience at any stage of gestation, is a violent
termination of life and therefore is contrary to the teaching of the Orthodox Church.
V. Rev. Vladimir Boreschevsky, Theologian - 1973:
. . . human life begins at the moment of conception and all who hold life
sacred and worthy of preservation whenever possible are obliged at all
costs to defend the lives of the unborn children regardless of the stage of
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their embryonic development.

23rd Clergy-Laity Congress - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese - 1976:
The Orthodox Church has a definite, formal and intended attitude
toward abortion. It condemns all procedures purporting to abort the
embryo or fetus, whether by surgical or chemical means. The Orthodox
Church brands abortion as murder; that is, as a premeditated termination
of the life of a human being...The only time the Orthodox Church will
reluctantly acquiesce to abortion is when the preponderance of medical
opinion determines that unless the embryo or fetus is aborted, the mother
will die. Decisions of the Supreme Court and State legislatures by which
abortion, with our without restrictions, is allowed should be viewed by
practicing Christians as an affront to their beliefs in the sanctity of life.
Metropolitan THEODOSIUS, Orthodox Church in America - 1980:
. . . the willful abortion of children is an act of murder and the sinful
character of that act always remains, even when conception has taken
place in the most tragic circumstances.
Theologian FR. STANLEY HARAKAS - 1982:
Human life is not an unconditional gift from God, but carries with it
certain responsibilities. That God considers the taking of an innocent life
to be a particularly heinous crime is evident, not only from the Sixth
Commandment, but also from the story of Cain and Abel, recounted in
Genesis 4:1-6. Further, the Incarnation of the Logos has, for all eternity,
sanctified all human life, in both its physical and spiritual aspects.
. . . since God is perfect beyond our human comprehension, the process of growing more like God, of developing our personhood is a never
ending one for every human being. It begins at conception and continues
to the very moment of our physical death. Thus, no human being is a
person or entirely human in the fullest sense, since none of us are
exactly like God. Yet, all human beings share the same potential developing into persons whether they be in the womb, at the prime of life, or on
their deathbed. The potential for personhood of the human fetus is
evident not only from the Orthodox concept of psychosomatic unity, but
from Scripture.
In opposition (to the idea that the unborn child is not a person), we profess
that no human being is ever fully a person but that all persons have the
potential to become fully human, to achieve union with God. Therefore,
we cannot declare on the basis of personhood, that the fetus in the womb
has no value in the eyes of both God and man than a person born.
Regarding a womans right to her own body: Orthodoxy rejects such
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notions due to the great value attached to life by God, and the fact that life
is a gift which no person has the right to take. If we do not have the right
to take our own lives, how much more so must it be that we have no right
to take the innocent life of the embryo or fetus in the womb? . . . That the
developing person inside the mothers womb has a life separate from its
mother is evident from the fact that its chromosomal makeup is different
from the mothers since it is a combination drawn from both mother and
father. Further, it is genetically unique; its particular combination of
traits and characteristics shall never be repeated.
General Assembly of the Antiochian Archdiocese - 1989:

WHEREAS a recent decision by the Supreme Court of the United States
of America has modified the 1973 decision of Roe vs. Wade relating to the
abortion issue; and
WHEREAS the Supreme Court of Canada has struck down as unconstitutional all laws protecting the unborn, and therefore no legislation
currently exists regulating abortion in Canada; and
WHEREAS all prolife organizations, especially Orthodox Christians for
Life, need our support, moral and financial, in defense of the thousands of
innocents who are deprived of the possibility of life; and
WHEREAS the Orthodox Church, from its inception on the day of
Pentecost, has condemned abortion as a grievous sin:
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, meeting in General Assembly in
Anaheim, California on 28 July 1989, reiterates its previous resolutions
against abortion and asks Orthodox Christians throughout the United
States and Canada to support those organizations which strive to protect
the rights of the unborn.
All American Council, Orthodox Church in America - 1989:
WHEREAS the Orthodox Church in America has consistently spoken
out in defense of the sanctity of life, and has done so in connection with
contemporary threats to the life of the unborn, the handicapped, the
infirm, and the elderly; and
WHEREAS abortion in all cases has been condemned by the Orthodox
Church in America unequivocally on the basis of Orthodox theology,
which faithfully reflects for today nearly two thousand years of Christian
doctrine and ethical teaching; and
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WHEREAS, before the end of this century, do-it-yourself abortion will

more than likely be commonplace (the RU 486 pill), and legislation will
have little effect on whether or not a woman brings her child to term;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED THAT the Ninth All-American Council
of the Orthodox Church in America strongly reaffirms the Orthodox
Churchs opposition to abortion in all cases, and that it does so on
theological and moral grounds; commends the efforts of Orthodox bishops,
clergy, and laity to bear witness to the sanctity of life in the public arena,
especially noting in this connection the work and witness of Orthodox
Christians for Life; and commits the Orthodox Church in America to
continued witness on behalf of the God-given sanctity of life;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Orthodox Church in America
recognizes that opposition to and condemnation of abortion in all cases,
except to save the life of the mother, is not enough, and that the Orthodox
Church and Orthodox Christians have a moral obligation to work for the
creation and maintenance of Orthodox adoption agencies and for the
facilita
tion of adoption procedures for families to consider adopting a homeless or unwanted or disabled infant, regardless of the childs racial or
ethnic background in the realization that the Church as a whole and the
parish community in particular is called to give active material and
spiritual support to those who accept the responsibility of adoption;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT this Council affirms and supports
the work of the Orthodox Christian Adoption Referral Service and encourages parishes and members of the Orthodox Church in America to give
their material and moral support to this organization;
FINALLY, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT this Council recognizes
and affirms spiritual, pastoral and educational efforts towards moral
persuasion, directed to the father as much as to the mother, to help stem
the present hemorrhaging of unborn and unwanted human persons and
lives.
Resolution on Sanctity of Life Sunday:
WHEREAS the Orthodox Church in America has always respected the
right to life of all men and women from conception to the time of natural
death, and
WHEREAS the Supreme Court of the United States of America has
allowed legalized abortion since January 22, 1973, leading to the deaths of
1,500,000 unborn children each year,
WE HEREBY PROCLAIM the Sunday in January falling on or before
January 22 each year to be called Sanctity of Life Sunday in all churches
of the Orthodox Church in America, and that on this Sunday a letter from
our primate be read in all churches, and special petitions be taken at
Liturgy, proclaiming our respect as a Church, for all human life.
Conclusion:
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There is little more that can be said - the deliberate destruction and/or desecration of a human being is unthinkable for a true-believing Orthodox Christian. God
created Man in his own likeness and image, man is a living icon of flesh and blood,
in which God gave the breath of life (ruah). Killing an innocent human being can
be seen is an act of blasphemy against God - it is the ultimate act of iconoclasm
Abortion is not a political issue,

but a moral issue that has become politicized!
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WHAT ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS CAN DO ABOUT ABORTION:

AN ACTION PLAN
Valerie Protopapas, Educational Director, Orthodox Christians for Life
Below is a list of suggestions to help Orthodox Christians fight the spiritual and
physical holocaust of abortion:
I: PRAYER: No one can deny the efficacy of prayer. Without the support and
guidance of Almighty God, we are powerless, whereas with it we cannot be defeated.
A] Prayer for those who have been or are in danger of being, aborted:
1] In this case, individual prayer during those times devoted to such prayer by
the Faithful should contain petitions for all those children who have already died
and who will die in the future.
2] Serious consideration should be given to including prayers for these holy
innocents into our liturgical services. Mention of these martyred millions will go
a long way toward raising the consciousness of all Orthodox Christians to the
ongoing slaughter.
3] Inclusion of special liturgical days (such as the Feast of the Holy Innocents,
the Holy Theotokos, the Conception of John the Baptist, and the Annunciation)
to commemorate those aborted in our nation and around the world. Pastors
should be encouraged to give special homilies on abortion and other sanctity of
life issues on these days.
B] Prayer for those who are working to end this abomination:
1] As above, those people whom God calls to perform this act desperately need
the individual and corporate prayers of the Church in order to have the strength
to continue in the performance of that calling.
C] Prayer for those women who have had or are considering abortions:
1] Often the woman who has an abortion is as much a victim as the child whom
she aborts. She is deceived by Satan working through our fallen culture to
consider abortion as something innocuous, but so often she suffers the terrible
aftereffects of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual damage or even death,
itself. In our individual prayers we must pray for these women to seek the
consolation of Christ through repentance and reconciliation. In both our individual and corporate prayers we must pray for women to be delivered from the
commission of such a sin. We must also, through the Church, promote life and
openly attack the abortion mentality, offering to women who are suffering with
a crisis pregnancy such help as is necessary to enable them to choose life for
their child whether that help be financial, emotional, spiritual or all three. Most
women who have abortions, when asked why, responded that they had no
Page 16
choice. The Orthodox Faith must provide a choice.

D] Prayer for those who support, promote, provide and/or perform abortions:
1] These most difficult of prayer subjects are the most necessary. If we are able
to bring to Christ those who champion abortion, we will have defeated the whole
terrible thing. Therefore, we must pray constantly in our hearts for those who
sincerely believe that, in supporting, counselling, promoting or providing abortions they are doing a humane act. We must ask God to enlighten these sincere
souls as to the terrible wrong they are doing both mother and child along with
the damage they are doing to society as a whole. We must also pray for those
whose support of abortion is the result of greed or a pathological ideology. They,
especially, are in need of prayer as they are so far along the road to damnation.
2] However, along with prayer, it is essential that the Church make clear to those
people who have been involved in abortion including the woman, those who have
given her counsel, those who have actually performed the abortion and even
those whose support of abortion is limited to intellectual acceptance, that to
continue to be considered part of the Orthodox Church, they must repent, turn
away from their sinful ways and undergo a reconciliation into the Body of Christ.
[a] The Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in America (SCOBA) once
considered excommunicating several pro-abortion Greek Orthodox legislators
because of their unrepentant support of abortion. They should have done so,
but, for some reason, they did not. This was a missed opportunity to bring home
to these erring brothers and sisters the seriousness of their sin.
[b] Statistics indicate that people who call themselves Orthodox Christians
are probably involved in abortion in about the same ratio as they occur in the
general population so we cannot say that we Orthodox are not involved in
abortion.
[c] During the 1988 Presidential Election, various Orthodox bishops spoke out
against a claim by one of the candidates to membership in good standing in
the Greek Orthodox Church because of his support of abortion and other moral
outrages.
[d] Though the Canons of the Church are most strict regarding those who
perform or have abortions, and the numbers of abortions in this country
number over one and one-half million per annum, yet one seldom hears the
Church reminding the Faithful of the consequences of being involved, even
indirectly, in abortion. For instance, how many Orthodox Christians work for
Planned Parenthood which is the largest and richest abortion promoter and
provider in the world? How many Orthodox physicians refer patients for
abortion or even perform them personally? How many Orthodox work in
abortuaries whether as medical, secretarial or custodial help? How many
Orthodox knowingly vote for pro-abortion politicians or support pro-abortion
legislation? How many Orthodox even care to discover whether an organization to which they belong is pro-abortion or pro-life? How many Orthodox
Page 17
belong to groups and organizations which champion abortion such as the

National Organization for Women (NOW) and many environmental groups?
How many Orthodox Christians who are registered in one of our two national
political parties which has embraced abortion as its standard have bothered to
register their disapproval by leaving that party or even by writing to party
officials to tell of their disapproval? How can the Church seriously begin to fight
abortion until the Faithful feel that even such indirect support of this terrible
sin is condemned wholeheartedly and that there are very real measures
available to the Church to prevent the Faithful from participating in both
Orthodoxy and abortion?
II: ACTION:- St. James says, in his Epistle, Faith without good works is dead.
So too, prayer without any kind of overt action may become simply an excuse for
inaction. There are many types of action against abortion available to the Orthodox
Faithful which range from a lifelong commitment to the struggle to those small but
important activities which may be accomplished by the house-bound, the elderly,
the teenager or the mother with young children at home.
A] Action within the parish:
1] Parish action should begin with the establishment of a pro-life or family life
committee which would be responsible for obtaining and disseminating pro-life
and family life information from the Diocese and/or other sources. This
committee would also be responsible for pro-life activities within the parish and
also for involving the parish with outside organizations (demonstrating, rescues
etc.).
[a] Such a committee would relieve the priest of the job of collecting, collating
and disseminating large amounts of information although, of course, he would
remain in charge of the overall operation and oversee the committees efforts.
[b] Pro-life activities might include fund raising for local crisis pregnancy
centers or other worthy pro-life organizations. In a larger parish it might
include the establishment of such a crisis pregnancy center or, at least, direct
involvement with one already established. There is also the MARCH FOR
LIFE which takes place on January 22nd each year. Each parish may wish to
send a busload of parishioners to participate or, if the Church is small, join with
other local Orthodox (or even Roman Catholic) Churches to fill one bus or
several.
2] Special times should be set aside for liturgical services directed at the abortion
crisis such as all-night vigils, Panahidas for the aborted children or akafists to
the Blessed Theotokos, Patroness of mothers and children.
3] Participation by the whole parish in large pro-life rallies, demonstrations and
educational presentations.
[a] Parishes should be encouraged to hold pro-life educational conferences with
community participation. This serves the double purpose of educating the
parish on pro-life issues and introducing the surrounding community to the
local Orthodox Church.
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[b] A liaison person should be chosen to deal with the Pro-Life Diocesan
representative. This person, working together with the priest, would furnish
the Diocese with information regarding the activities of that particular parish,
thus helping coordinate activities at the deanery and diocesan levels.
[c] Calendars of pro-life activities should be circulated within the Diocese,
especially to neighboring churches, to coordinate efforts in certain spheres (ie:
demonstrations, lobbying trips, mass mailings etc.)
B] Action which may be taken either individually or in the parish setting:
1] Demonstrations: (Walks for Life, picketing etc.): Contrary to popular opinion,
Orthodox Christians do picket. You will recall the thousands of Orthodox who
rallied outside the UN for those suffering oppression in the Soviet Union. Surely,
innocent unborn babies deserve at least this much of an effort!
[a] Locate your local abortuaries. (never call them clinics ! How can anything
be a clinic when two people go in and only one leaves? Furthermore, the vast
majority of abortuaries are not licensed clinics, but operate as doctors offices
and do not have the necessary supervision by state and local health officials
demanded of licensed clinics.)
[1] This may be done through the Yellow Pages or through a check of county
health agencies, your local hospital or checking with your local Planned
Parenthood facility which, itself may be but is not always, an abortuary.
[2] Your local hospital may also be an abortuary, but it is necessary to
remember that, in picketing any health care facility which offers more than
just abortions, it is critical that no one can claim that you denied them access
to the building! As picketing is not a rescue (sit in) there is usually no
question of denial of access, but in hospitals or other multi-service health
facilities, some people have claimed that pro-life pickets prevented them from
obtaining non-related medical care. Therefore, when picketing a doctors
group, hospital or even a building where non-medical offices and/or businesses are located, be sure to leave open all access ways and stay only on
public property. If this is done, no one can demand that you leave, for you are
only exercising your First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly.
[b] Once your target is located, choose a day (usually a Saturday) and an hour
(as busy as possible, or, if known, the hour that the patients are going in for
the procedure) and assemble on the public sidewalk in front of the abortuary
with signs and pictures telling the public just what is happening in the building.
[1] In the near future, a pamphlet will be made available on how to effectively
demonstrate for life. If you need assistance before then, local pro-life groups
may already be demonstrating and, if you join them once or twice, you will
learn many excellent techniques. At present there are visuals which have
only just become available and are very effective, if gruesome.
[2] You should also make available to the public, pamphlets on abortion,
many of which are available through various national pro-life organizations
and whose titles and places of purchase will also be made available through
our pamphlet.
2] Lobbying: Communities of pro-lifers hire buses and go to their state capitol or
Page 19
Washington, D.C. to lobby for or against various legislation. These trips often
bear fruit. In politics, its the squeaky wheel which gets the oil! Local, state and
national pro-life groups will keep you informed about upcoming legislation,
which is why it is so necessary to belong to at least one of each kind! Such trips
may also be used to join larger, regional or even national demonstrations such
as the January 22nd MARCH FOR LIFE in Washington, D.C..
3] Mass mailings: directed at the media and in response to all pro-abortion
propaganda, whether in news programs, commentaries or entertainment
program contents (such as the mendacious docu-drama, Roe vs. Wade which
was a series of half-truths and outright lies and a total pro-abortion propaganda
vehicle). Letters to sponsors of offending programs are also useful, especially
where the threat of a boycott is used. After all, in the media, money is the bottom
line and they will abandon even their most cherished positions if their profits are
threatened!
[a] Keep a list of all addresses of newspapers, radio and TV stations, in fact, any
publication or media center which may require a pro-life response to a proabortion comment. Be sure, however, when responding:
1] Get the name of the individual making the comment and the time and
program involved.
2]- Be accurate! Do not fudge your facts! Make sure what youre saying is
correct or you will lose your audience and damage your case.
3]-Get to the point quickly; dont be long-winded. People today think in
bumper stickers and there is no room in letters to the editor or radio/TV
responses for loquaciousness.
4] Answer only one point, even if the comment/column made several. Pick the
most offensive and address it.
5]-Be polite at all times! Not only will this win you sympathy with the
audience, but, as a representative of Orthodoxy, it is an essential.
6] Almsgiving: support with your gifts such pro-life activities as crisis
pregnancy centers, local, state and national pro-life organizations (without
whom your own effectiveness would be considerably lessened), pro-life
publications (take out a subscription to the Human Life Review, the
Shakespeare Quarterly of the pro-life movement) etc. Even if you cannot give
time or talent to the movement, you can help support life with your monetary
gifts.
C] Education:
1] Support educational programs given by the Diocese by having it at your
Church and making sure it is well attended (especially by teenagers). If your
Diocese does not have a program, help get one started!
2] Have a pro-life curriculum in your Church school, starting with the youngest
children; teach them the humanity of the unborn through Scripture, Tradition
and science. Life begins at conception, as all three reveal. When our children know
and accept this, they will never accept the abortion lie.
3] Do not allow any fallacious statement about abortion to pass unchallenged!
Page 20
Most people dont want to cause trouble and so say nothing when the abortion
lies are presented. In this way, Christians have been silent while millions of
women were deluded and millions of children have died. You may not be popular
for the moment, but you may save a life in the future.
There have been many questions about pro-life activity from those whose only
knowledge of that activity has been from a hostile media. Lets look at some
questions regarding:
1- Clinic bombings: There have been a very few instances where unbalanced
people professing pro-life sympathies have destroyed property in hopes of
preventing abortion. These people have never been connected to the recognized
pro-life movement despite all efforts from both a hostile judiciary and media to
make that connection. Legitimate pro-life organizations have spoken out strongly
at all times against any violence, whether against persons or property! The
bottom line in the war of abortion is the body count:
2- Civil Disobedience or Operation Rescue(Rescue Movement): The story of
Operation Rescue is too long to tell here and we do have a separate pamphlet
dealing with this particular type of pro-life activity. We will only say that civil
disobedience leading to arrest and prosecution and/or even brutal torture,
should be undertaken only after the most serious and deliberate spiritual
consideration. Furthermore, pro-abortion forces are now utilizing civil law suits
in order to discourage resuers including use of the RICO statues which provide
for triple damages if the suit is successful. RICO was designed to combat
organized crime (the Mafia) but some courts have seen fit to describe the tactic
of sit-in rescues as a criminal conspiracy. Until the Supreme Court rules that
RICO may not be used in this manner or the Congress tightens the law to prevent
it being used to stifle legitimate dissent, rescuers remain liable to suit under this
damaging law. Therefore, it is evident that rescue is not a casual activity and
there must be a very real calling to pursue it. There remains the very real
possibility of the loss of all a persons assets as the law now stands.
In the past, there was nothing stopping those who are unsure about actual
participation in rescue from becoming prayer supporters; that is, going to the
scene of a rescue to pray and demonstrate support for those who have put their
bodies on the line for the unborn. That was an act which appeared to bear no legal
consequences as long as the prayer supporter remained on public property and
did not block access to anyone. Unfortunately, however, it seems that such
innocent supporters have also been named in lawsuits (not RICO) and have even
been brutalized and arrested by the police at various rescue sites. This tactic
(rescue) is becoming more and more difficult as the abortion movement and the
American justice system band together to insure the supremecy of abortion.
However, the presence of prayer supporters often insures that the police will not
overreact in a rescue situation and, if care is taken, such prayer support can
still be of great service to the brave rescuers and of relatively slight danger to the
supporter.Again, participation must be a decision arrived at by prayer, fasting
and common sense.
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PRO-ABORTION PROPAGANDA:
Common Pro-abortion Slogans and the Pro-life Response
Valerie Protopapas
Educational Director, Orthodox Christians for Life
It has been said that those who define an issue, own that issue. Nowhere is this
more evident than in critical issue of abortion. Abortion propaganda has been
presented as fact by, among others, the media and the medical and legal professions,
for so many years that the public, including many of those who support life, have
come to believe this rhetoric and consider these premises as fundamental realities
in the abortion situation. Let us examine the most important and prevalent of these
premises.
A woman has the right to control her own body.
This is the primary feminist premise for abortion rights. It presents the
contention by radical feminists that abortion is an essential part of their struggle
for power; that power being equated as the ability to control in the most basic way,
a womans reproductive functions. Feminists recognize that the most obvious and
telling difference between men and women is a womans ability to bear life. In order
to efface that difference, they believe that women should have the political and legal
power to decide whether or not they want to be pregnant at any given time. However,
a critical analysis of their argument reveals several inconsistencies:
To begin with, the very fact that a woman has a crisis pregnancy demonstrates
that she, for whatever reason, lost control over her body. There are those who have
said that, had she exercised control in the first place, she would not be pregnant.
However, those in the pro-life movement make no moral judgements in this matter
since there always exists the possibility that the pregnancy was due to an external
force over which she had no control. The supporters of life believe that a womans
right to control her body exists before she becomes pregnant. In other words, she
has the admitted Constitutional right not to become pregnant by whatever means
she chooses whether it be abstinence, the through the use of contraception or
sterilization. However, once a woman is pregnant, the undeniable fact is that she is
going to have a baby. The abortion movement has only provided her with the option
of having a dead rather than a live baby and this cannot and must not be equated
with providing her an alternative to pregnancy. Once a woman is pregnant,
another human being is involved and her body can no longer be the primary
consideration. The unborn child is scientifically and medically recognized as a
unique and distinct person; separate from his mother and not a part of her body.
To suggest that he is so simply because he depends upon her for shelter and
nourishment is to suggest that newborn and even older children who need maternal
care also fall under the category of being a part of their mothers physical body; a
suggestion which is patently ridiculous.
Finally, if a womans absolute control over her physical body is a constitutionally
recognized right, then the laws against prostitution, drug use and other crimes
Page 22
involving the body must be removed from the books. However, as of this date, all
such laws have been construed to be constitutional. The premise that a woman has
the right to absolute and unfettered control of her body is applicable, judicially, only
in the case of abortion.
Who chooses: the woman or the government? The so-called pro-choice
argument.
When abortion is seen in terms of the right to choose, it is supported by the
majority of Americans who look no further than the idea that some individual may
be deprived of her rights. Yet, this analogy is false. If the sentiment were cast in
another way, such as, Who chooses, the rapist [bank robber, mugger, child
molester], the argument of choice would have no appeal. For the public recognizes
that such acts as rape, robbery and the sexual molestation of children are contrary
to the good of both the individual and the society and cannot be condoned, much less
promoted. Whenever the term pro-choice is used to present abortion as being
simply the right of a woman to choose, the question must be asked, what choice is
being made? In the case of abortion, the choice is to kill an innocent human being
which is morally and ethically unacceptable.
We all recognize that not all choices are valid. Serial killer Ted Bundy made
choices, but no one argues that the government had no business getting involved
as they brought death to countless young women. The choice of an abortion has
resulted in the death of over 30 million babies in the United States since 1974. To
suggest that government - the moral force of the state representing all its people
- has no part in a womans choice to kill her unborn child is to propose that it has
no part in the choice to commit any other type of murder, which, of course, is
nonsense.
If abortion were made illegal, women could be arrested for having or
attempting to have one.
A Planned Parenthood ad shows a woman behind bars who has just had a
miscarriage. The ad states that this could conceivably be the fate of every woman
who has a miscarriage and certainly would be the fate of every woman who has or
attempts to have an abortion. No pro-lifer has ever encouraged or supported
criminal prosecution for women who have abortions. The call for such prosecution
is limited to the abortionist and those who aid, abet and profit from the crime.
Indeed, women are considered by the pro-life movement as the second victim since
they are often coerced, bullied and deceived in the effort to force them to choose
abortion over all other options. The cry of most women who have an abortion is, I
had no choice!
Page 23
Most of those in the pro-life movement are men. The pro-life movement is
anti-woman.
Over 80% of those in the pro-lifer movement are women!. On the other hand, many
of those who support abortion are men. After all, men have the most to gain from
abortion. The vast majority of abortionists are men. Abortion removes from men the
burden of child support and allows them to escape the commitment which comes
with fatherhood. One young woman standing outside an abortuary carried a sign
which read,
A WOMANS RIGHT TO CHOOSE HAS BECOME A MANS RIGHT TO ABUSE
Polls show that a vast majority of Americans favor abortion rights.
This is another half-truth. Most polls show that almost 70% of Americans favor
abortion only in cases of rape, incest and threat to the physical life of the mother.
Done for reasons of birth control, sex selection, convenience, or economics, abortion
is repudiated by the public in virtually the same numbers, almost 70%. Further,
those who study them know that polls reflect the opinions of those who take them. For
instance, the above statement - that almost 70% of the public favors abortion - was
made when the question: Would you favor denying an abortion to a woman whose
life was in danger or who had been raped? brought the understandable answer of
no from most of those being polled. This most specific answer to a most specific
question was then extrapolated to the statement: most Americans favor abortion on
demand . However, if one asks the question, Do you support abortion for social and
economic convenience, the reason for over 97% of all the abortions performed since
Roe, the majority of Americans will answer with a resounding No!
If abortion is limited or banned, who will care for the 1.5 million unwanted
children who are now being aborted? It will be a tremendous burden on the
welfare system and the taxpayers.
Ignoring the equation of childrens lives with money, this argument has also been
proven patently false. When and where access to abortion is limited, the pregnancy
rate drops precipitously! In one state where parental notification is necessary for
minors, it was found that the teenage pregnancy rate dropped almost 75%. In adult
situations where there is [supposedly] more mature judgement, it can be expected
that the unwanted pregnancy rate will decline even more when abortion is no
longer available as a backup method of birth control.
However, whether or not that should occur, we cannot murder children on the off
chance that the taxpayers may have to shoulder some part of the cost of their
upbringing. Given that there are millions of couples waiting to adopt children, this
is not a true consideration in the elimination of legalized abortion.
There are those who ask the question, what about the unadoptables; that is,
minority, multiracial and handicapped children? Should we not provide abortion in
such cases? The adoption situation has changed radically in recent years and,
Page 24
although healthy white infants are still the preference, many couples are willing
and even eager to adopt children who are designated as hard to place. During the
time the natural parents allowed a Downs Syndrome infant to starve to death in
a hospital in Bloomington, Indiana, there were six couples waiting to adopt him.
Every Child A Wanted Child [Planned Parenthood slogan]
Sounds great, doesnt it! Wouldnt we want every child born to be wanted? Yet
think of the implication of this statement! What we are saying is, if you arent
wanted you have no value as a human being! How far is it then to such slogans as,
Every Senior a Wanted Senior, or Every Jew a wanted Jew. Human beings cannot
be killed simply because, at some point in their lives, somebody perceives them as
unwanted, even if that person is their mother. Almost everyone, sometime in his
life may be unwanted by his family, his boss, his peers and even himself....but he
is never unwanted by God. Being unwanted is not a capital crime in the United
States!
Limiting or making abortion illegal would mean tens of thousands of
women dying of illegal back-alley abortion as they did before Roe vs.
Wade.
We have all seen the pro-abortion signs with the symbol of the coat-hanger and
the diagonal slash. And, we have heard all the tales of the dirty, vicious back-alley
abortionists who preyed on helpless women when abortion was illegal. Yet,
according to Dr. Bernard Nathanson - a foremost proponent of abortion rights who
performed abortions when they were both legal and illegal - most illegal abortions
were done, not in back alleys, but in hospitals and not by bungling amateurs, but by
licenses gynecologists. The death toll from illegal abortion the year before Roe was
39, not the 20,000 claimed by pro-abortion forces. Also, approximately 150,000
illegal abortions were performed annually in the United States before Roe, not 1.5
million as claimed by abortion supporters. The rate has increased by a factor of 10
since 1974.
Furthermore, women are dying today of so-called safe, legal abortions. The
admitted death rate from 2nd and 3rd trimester abortions is only slightly lower than
the rate of automobile deaths [1 in 5900 as compared to 1 in 5000] and the death rate
from 1st trimester abortions (the most numerous performed) can only be estimated
as there are no government regulations concerning the reporting of deaths attributable to abortion. The scandals which have rocked the abortion industry with regards
to unsafe practices including the hiring and use of unlicensed physicians or
physicians who have lost their licenses and the incredible fact that, in some states,
an abortionist does not even have to be a physician, would have destroyed any other
industry; but abortion is protected by the courts and the media. The back alley
abortionist is still in practice, only now he is tax-exempt and government subsidized.
Page 25
It isnt a baby, its a blob of tissue, a parasite, a product of conception,

a tumor etc.
This is how the abortion industry and its allies describe the unborn child. Yet,
they are afraid to allow the public to see the pictures of aborted babies which clearly
show severed arms, legs, and heads. Further, the abortion industry has constantly
fought against informed consent legislation which require that a woman be told
about the abortion procedure, the dangers she might encounter in that procedure,
the nature of her pregnancy and the facts about the life of her unborn child.
At the moment of conception, the child possesses the 46 chromosomes needed for
a new and unique human being. Even before the fertilized egg divides, the genetic
patterns have established sex, hair, eye and skin color and such traits as musical,
athletic and artistic talent and possible future diseases. In the month following
conception, the child grows so rapidly that, if it were considered in proportion as
weighing 1 pound at the moment of conception, at the end of that first month its
weight would be 5 tons! At 24 days the heart is beating and circulating the childs
blood (the mothers blood is never part of the baby). At 6 weeks there are recordable
brain waves which are functionally little different from that of an adult. All organs
are present and functioning at the end of 8 weeks of gestation. Most abortions are
performed between 10 and 12 weeks gestation. Some children have survived outside
the womb as early as 20 weeks [5 months], and development of a human being is not
completed until the age of 23 years.
The Pro-Life movement cares only for the unborn child and not for the
woman or the child once he is born. Pro-lifers hold women in contempt.
It is not pro-lifers who hold women in contempt, but the abortion industry.
Testimony of ex-abortionists and those who have worked in abortuaries speak
ceaselessly to the fact that the only thing abortionists are interested in is money.
Women are often misled, lied to, coerced, browbeaten and bullied into getting an
abortion. Often they are treated brutally and the horror stories from these places are
legion. Pro-life demonstrators who tell a woman that she is killing her baby as she
enters an abortuary are only trying to reach her with the facts while there is still
time. Many women later lament that there was no one outside the abortuary to tell
them the facts when they had their abortion. Of course, the truth is most women
really know that they are killing their baby, but they ignore that knowledge for the
sake of convenience . Only later, when the guilt begins to destroy them, are they
forced to face what they knew all along. It is infinitely easier for them to face that
truth before their abortion than after, even if the truth is both unwelcome and
unpleasant.
The Pro-life movement does care for both the woman and her child before and
after birth. Crisis pregnancy centers established around the country help women
find jobs, apartments or housing with a volunteer if she is homeless, give her help
with medical expenses, transportation to medical facilities, provide layettes for
newborns, baby furniture, clothing for siblings and a host of other necessities. It is
Page 26
interesting to note that pro-life endeavors such as these crisis pregnancy centers,
receive no funding from any government agency only the abortionists and their allies
like Planned Parenthood are government funded. In fact, there are government
functionaries, like the Attorney General of New York, who seek to close some crisis
pregnancy centers under the pretense of deceptive advertising since they refuse to
counsel abortion as an alternative. However, these same functionaries do not seek
to hold abortuaries to the same high standard of truth when they offer so-called
counseling which consists solely of selling abortion to their clients.
The Pro-life movement is made up of the wealthy and is financed by the
Roman Catholic Church.
Statistics on income distribution reveal that most pro-lifers are in the middle,
lower-middle and lower income brackets while most abortion advocates are in the
upper-middle and upper income brackets including millionaires. Pro-aborts boast
such financial giants as Ted Turner and Donald Trump along with myriad media
celebrities. On the other hand, pro-life ranks are filled with blue collar workers,
housewives and religious. Nor is the movement financed by the Catholic Church.
Pro-life agencies receive no government funding as do so many pro-abortion
organizations; it is financed solely, totally and completely by the sacrificial offerings
of its pro-life members.
If abortion were illegal, what about victims of rape, incest and women
whose lives are endangered by their pregnancy?
Abortion is performed today for cases of rape, incest or danger to the life of the
woman in less than 3% of the 1.5 million annual abortions. In cases where a womans
life is in actual danger from a pregnancy as in the case of an ectopic or tubal
pregnancy or cancerous uterus, there has always been a medical, legal and spiritual
recognition of the necessity to save the mothers life even when that salvation led,
tragically, to the death of the child. No laws were necessary to legalize life-saving
medical intervention.
Cases of rape and incest very rarely lead to pregnancy for a variety of reasons. In
cases where they do, we must remember that the child in the womb is not guilty of
any crime but is also a victim. As we do not ask the death penalty for the actual
criminal of rape or incest, why should we demand it for the second innocent victim?
Also, abortion leads to increased trauma as the victim will suffer the emotional and
possibly physical damage which is common to all abortions. Between 50 and 80% of
all women who have had abortions suffer mild to severe psychological trauma
although it may take up to 8 or 10 years before manifesting itself. This is simply
piling the trauma of abortion upon trauma of rape or incest. A woman who carries
through a such a pregnancy may indeed wind up far better off physically and
psychologically than a woman who chooses to abort.
Finally, we must remember that, as Christians, we are obligated to offer Gods
compassion to the woman, not that of the world. The world says that the woman
Page 27
would be much better off killing her child. This so-called compassion is wicked and
leads to spiritual, moral and sometimes physical death. Gods compassion has more
respect for the sufferer, offering the suffering of His Son as an example in our
distress and the promise of His eternal love and constant support in times of trial.
Abortion is a womans constitutional right.
Abortion is mentioned nowhere in the Constitution. The so-called right to an
abortion was made up out of whole cloth by the Supreme Court under the guise of
the right of privacy, which is also unmentioned in the Constitution. In deciding that
the unborn child was a human being, but not a person, the Court did to them what
it had previously done to African-Americans in the infamous Dred Scott decision
which said that blacks, though human, were not persons under the Constitution.
Abortion is legal only for the first three months of a pregnancy.
Roe vs. Wade and its attendant case of Doe vs. Bolton legalized abortion on
demand through all nine months of pregnancy A woman may abort her child for any
reason or no reason at all up to the moment of delivery. The admitted interest
which the State has in second and third trimester abortions is defined in Doe vs.
Bolton as allowing the State only the right to determine who may perform an
abortion and where one may be performed in such circumstances. The State may
not, under these two rulings, prevent or forbid abortion whatever the viability of
the fetus. The Webster case, however, has made some inroads in the totality of Roe
and Doe; only time will tell just how much. Until both are overturned, however,
abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy for any or no reason at
all remains the law of the land.
What about the population explosion? Arent there too many people in
the world already and arent they endangering the planet?
The replacement birth rate of any group is approximately 2.24 children per
reproductive couple. All European countries [except Ireland], and the United States,
Canada and European Russia have fallen below that level . We are a dying nation.
Only immigration hides that fact. We have a current birth rate of 1.9 children per
reproductive couple which means there are fewer and fewer young people to carry
the burden of every growing numbers of elderly. Pro-life prophets see the current
push for euthanasia as a way of handling the crisis of elderly dependency in the
coming years.
Furthermore, if one placed every human being on the face of the earth together
in a large crowd, they would not fill the state of Rhode Island. In the Third World,
most poverty is the result of inefficient economies, political strife and poor management. Well run governmental and economic structures in such overcrowded places
as Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan put the lie to the belief that people are a
detriment. Most people who accept the overpopulation theory, dont want to be
Page 28
eliminated themselves to lower the number of people in the world, but rather are
worried about having to share their abundance with someone else. When one says
there are too many people for the resources available, the concept is overpopulation. However, when one says, there are too few resources for the people, the
concept is poverty. There is more than enough arable land and goods available for
all humanity; it is a matter of distribution and the poor management of much that
should be far more productive.
Regarding ecology and conservation, we must remember that, as Christians,
we are stewards of our planet. However, we cannot save the whales and kill the
babies. Our brothers and sisters around the world are sacred to God, just as we are.
If we follow His Commandments and seek His help, people, plants, animals and the
whole biosphere can live in harmony without slaughtering our fellow man to save
the snail darter.
The new abortion pill, RU-486 and the development of new contraceptives
[such as Norplant] will end the debate.
Contrary to the hopes of abortion advocates, RU-486 will not end the abortion
debate. This dangerous chemical is not a morning after pill which can be taken to
prevent a pregnancy nor is the use of the pill simple but rather, a very complex
and involved process which often results in the need to resort, after the course of
medication, to a surgical abortion. The kill window for RU-486 is limited and it is
ineffective before and after that time. Further, RU-486 has a relatively low kill
percentage unless taken in conjunction with doses of prostaglandin, another
dangerous and powerful drug. The pill itself has only been tested a very short time
in the nature of drug testing but already shows many problematic side effects. Also,
many drug firms are loath to carry the first human pesticide. The push to get this
infamous material into our nation is reminiscent of the push to legalize that other
wonder drug from Europe, Thalidomide.
The newly accepted contraceptive Norplant, is a device surgically implanted in
a womans arm which has a 5 year+ life-span. Norplant suppresses the production
of ova in a woman by the use of the gradual emission of a low dosage of a particular
hormone and in this action, it mimics the low-dosage birth control pill. Women who
cant take the pill are advised to avoid this new product. The cost of implanting the
five match-stick like receptacles will be on the average, about $300.00 according
to most medical sources. Unfortunately, what is not said is that, failing to prevent
production of the egg, Norplant makes the lining of the uterus hostile to the nowfertilized egg, causing a failure of implantation. Thus a woman may abort up to 60
children in one five year period and never be the wiser.
Finally, abortion is abortion is abortion whether surgical or chemical, and will
be fought by those who value the sanctity of human life.
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Limitation or prohibition of abortion will increase the incidence of child

abuse as most abused children are the result of unwanted pregnancies.
The Truth? Over 97% of the documented cases of child abuse involve wanted
children from planned pregnancies. Since Roe, the incidence of child abuse has
risen over 700% in the United States alone. Violence against women and societal
violence has also risen precipitously. Killing human beings is not a solution to social
problems because, inevitably, the society which resorts to such measures collapses.
Today we are seeing our society in the throes of physical, moral and ethical collapse
and abortion must be considered as a primary reason.
Abortion is necessary to help preserve relationships which might otherwise end under the strain of an unwanted child.
Numerous statistical studies over the years show that, of those couples unmarried at the time of an abortion, over 70% break up within one year of the abortion.
Statistics on the situation among married couples is unavailable, but interviews
with aborted married women indicate that these women harbor deep resentment
and hostility where they perceive the abortion as due to the wishes of the husband
even when they outwardly concurred with that decision. Similarly, married men
whose wives abort despite or directly contrary to their desire, evince feelings of
impotence, anger and helplessness. Neither situation bodes well for any marriage.
I am not pro-abortion, Im pro-choice, I would never have an abortion
myself, but I cannot tell someone else what to do. I am personally opposed
to abortion, but... You cant legislate morality!
These are the arguments used, by politicians in an attempt to court both pro-life
and pro-abortion constituencies. These are also arguments used to excuse the proabortion beliefs and actions of politicians and others who belong to pro-life religious
bodies. Finally, every felony law against rape, robbery, incest, murder etc. are laws
which establish a cultural morality. Law has always been the vehicle by which any
society described its most cherished moral and ethical beliefs.
Conclusion:
Abortion is totally destructive. It destroys the woman, the child, the health care
professional,* the family structure, the relationship between men and women and
eventually, dehumanizes the society which has employed it as a solution for its
problems. It leads to infanticide [which is already happening in this country],
euthanasia [which is already happening in this country] and a loss of respect for
human life which fosters increased societal violence and suicide [both of which are
already happening in this country]. Death becomes a solution to lifes difficult
problems - death, not only of the individual, should he desire it, but for those as well
whom the individual finds inconvenient: an unborn or handicapped child, an older
Page 30
parent and/or all those who are are on the fringe of society whom the individual
might be called upon to support through taxes or in the name of charity: the poor,
the homeless, the elderly and the ill. Elite coteries in government, the bureaucracy,
law and medicine have become arbiters of who shall live and who die. At the moment,
age and physical condition determine who will die, but it is only a matter of time
before such considerations as religion, race or political philosophy place a human
being on the unwanted and inconvenient list.
America can no more survive half-death and half-life, than she could halfslave and half-free. All those who value life, liberty and due process as well as
those who love God and Neighbor have a duty to fight for an end to this holocaust
and a return to the understanding of the sanctity of each and every innocent human
life.
*[American doctors no longer take the original Hippocratic Oath. This Oath which
protects patients from the depredations of unscrupulous physicians has been
abandoned only twice in 2500 years, in Nazi Germany and today in America]
________________________________________________________________________
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A Response to Recent Violence Associated with the

Pro-Life Movement
Valerie H. Protopapas
Educational Director, Orthodox Christians for Life
The Pro-Life Movement is under the heaviest attack it has yet to sustain in
its twenty-year history. Many people newly come to the movement are considering
abandoning their commitment to life in the face of being publicly branded a religious
fanatic, hate-monger and murderer. It is unbelievably ironic that those whose only
motive is the saving of lives are subjected to such infamy by real murderers, the
abortionists and their accomplices in the so-called pro-choice movement. Of
course, pro-lifers have been called names since they determined not to accept
legalized abortion after Roe vs. Wade in 1973. The epithets, curses and attacks vocal, physical and legal - leveled against the defenders of life have been many and
furious and have arisen not only from the lunatic fringe of the abortion alliance radical feminists, militant homosexuals, and other strange beings - but also from the
mightiest forces of society - government, law, science, medicine, commerce and the
media. If there were ever a modern example of David and Goliath, it is the abortion
issue in which a relative handful of (mostly) traditional Christians have stood
against the force of an entire world culture bent on the wholesale destruction of the
unborn.
In the twenty and more years the Pro-Life Movement has existed - and in
spite of the frustration of its members as abortion has become institutionalized and
continues at the rate of 1.6 million annually in the United States alone - fewer than
a dozen people claiming pro-life sympathies have engaged in any kind of violence on
behalf of the cause and no one has been killed or injured as a result of their actions.
Consider: during this same time-period over thirty million babies have been killed
by abortion and countless women have been killed and maimed in abortuaries. It is
clear just where gross acts of violence are being perpetrated and who is perpetrating
them legal though they may be. Furthermore, any time there has been any so-called
anti-abortion violence, the entire Pro-Life Movement has instantly gone on record
as condemning the act even though they understood the frustration and anguish
animating the actors. All attempts - and they have been many - by the media and
local, state and federal law-enforcement agencies to connect those involved to the
Pro-Life Movement have been fruitless. In each and every case, one or two people
acting alone had directed their animus against property while making every effort
to insure that no human life would be placed in jeopardy by their actions. However,
in March, 1993, a lone individual not affiliated or associated with any pro-life group
or organization, shot and killed a Florida abortionist.
When this incident was broadcast, the Pro-Life Movement was stunned and
horrified. The vast majority of pro-lifers immediately condemned the man and his
actions but, of course, it was useless. Instantly, abortion supporters everywhere
began to call for an FBI investigation of the Pro-Life Movement and a crackdown on
pro-lifers, their activities and the groups to which they belong. These people and
Page 32
their pro-abortion organizations have mendaciously insisted that this single attack
by an obviously disturbed individual, is a commonplace occurrence and that the ProLife Movement routinely indulges in terrorism. Presidents Reagan and Bush were
labeled as accomplices(!) as was every person who is now or who has ever been
involved in the struggle against abortion. However, these ludicrous charges and the
demand that all pro-life activity be curtailed and/or prohibited by law, have been
leveled against pro-lifers by pro-abortion supporters since before 1973. They
represent an ongoing and largely successful effort to stifle all opposition to abortion
and deny the pro-life position access to the public forum. Among the legislative
initiatives the abortion movement has demanded from the federal government are:
1] Passage of the so-called clinic protection act, making it a federal crime
to block access to an abortion facility. However, the term blocking access
affects not only those who actually seek to prevent persons from entering an
abortuary - rescuers - but also those who accost persons entering the facility
such as sidewalk counsellors, those offering assistance to desperate women
and those distributing literature. Though these people make no attempt to
interfere with access, they, too, would be prevented from exercising their
Constitutional rights of free speech, association and dissent.
2] The passage of laws to make opposition to abortion a federal crime with
extreme penalties. This is in response to the recent Supreme Court ruling in
the Bray case which said that the Ku Klux Klan act could not be used against
pro-life activity as opposition to abortion does not constitute discrimination
against women.
3] The passage of F.O.C.A., an extreme law which would remove the few
restrictions which presently exist on the procedure such as parental notification for minors having an abortion, conscience clauses to protect pro-life
physicians and church-affiliated hospitals, fetal age-limits, safety regulations etc.
Unfortunately, many pro-life sympathizers are not sufficiently informed
about the Movement to defend it against this deceitful attack. Truthfully, the ProLife Movement is totally non-violent and absolutely dedicated to the sanctity of human life. Violence is contrary to everything in which the Movement and
its followers believe; it is the other side which advocates violence and death. Pro-life
activities range from prayer vigils to rescues - that is, placing ones body between
the abortionist and his victim. No responsible pro-life person or organization - and
the vast majority are responsible - either advocates or practices violence. However,
pro-lifers have often been victims of violence. Those engaged in peaceful, prayerful,
non-violent civil disobedience (an accepted tactic of American dissent since the days
of the civil rights movement) have been brutally tortured by police and corrections
officers in among other American cities, Los Angeles, West Hartford, Atlanta and
Pittsburgh. Those engaged in legal and constitutionally protected activities have
also been arrested and prosecuted at the behest of the abortion industry. Huge fines
and long prison sentences have been levied against people whose only crime is
Page 33
opposition to abortion. If the abortion juggernaut has its way, all opposition to
abortion will be outlawed. Even pro-life speech - if the abortion movement has its
way - will eventually be defined in law as hate-speech and censored no matter
where it occurs. This premise may sound ludicrous, but remember, 1.6 million legal
abortions a year in America once sounded equally farcical.
In this time of the persecution and shrill condemnation of the entire Pro-Life
Movement, many may hesitate to remain committed to life - after all, who wants to
be associated with murderers. Yet, this fact must be kept in perspective: those who
are noisily condemning the Movement for the act of one disturbed man are the real
murderers:
- Abortionists - not pro-lifers - murder 4,500 children a day.
- Radical feminists - not pro-lifers - want the right to murder any child in the
womb.
- Police who torture peaceful, prayerful, unresisting demonstrators - not prolifers - murder respect for the law.
- Judges who use their position to punish and curtail dissent - not pro-lifers
- murder justice.
- The President of the United States who wants to jail all rescuers for life
- not pro-lifers - is murdering the Constitution.
- Journalists who lie and blame a Movement for the act of one man - not prolifers - are murdering the truth.
- Liberal Christian churches that support abortion - not pro-lifers - are
murdering Christian moral witness.
- Christians who abandon the unborn for fear of the World - not pro-lifers - are
murdering the Church.
This time of crisis and trial is the time for all Christians to keep your eyes
on the prize and not waver or despair; this is what Christ requires; this is what the
Saints expect; this is what the Church teaches; this is what the Faith demands.
Page 34
WHAT ABOUT OPERATION RESCUE?

(Non-violent civil disobedience)
We of Orthodox Christians for Life have received numerous questions from our
members regarding OPERATION RESCUE and other OR-like activities and the
proper Orthodox response to this type of pro-life activism. We hope the following will
be of assistance:
WHAT IS OPERATION RESCUE?
Operation Rescue is a revival of the type of passive, non-violent civil disobedience
once used so successfully by the civil rights movement in the 50s and 60s. Where
once demonstrators sat-in at lunch counters and other businesses which denied
equality to African-Americans, pro-life demonstrators sit-in at abortuaries, blocking access to the premises with the intention of preventing the murder of unborn
children and the abuse of their mothers. This is not a new phenomena in pro-life, but
it has gained tremendous momentum within the last few years.
WHAT DOES IT HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH?
OPERATION RESCUE accomplishes several goals:
1] The abortuary is (usually) closed for the day . No killing can go on
there.
2] Statistics prove that, of every abortion cancelled for whatever
reason, one woman in four chooses not to reschedule. That is, one baby
in four - statistically - is saved.
3] Closing the abortuary gives sidewalk counsellors a chance to talk to
women, offering assistance through a crisis pregnancy center or other
pro-life alternative. Many babies have been saved this way.
4] Perhaps the most important things accomplished by a Rescue is that
the public is made to recognize that killing goes on in that nondescript
building around the corner and that Christians (the vast majority of
Rescuers are Christians) are saying no to abortion.
IS RESCUE CONSISTENT WITH OR CONTRARY TO THE TEACHINGS
AND DOCTRINES OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH?
The Church has always held that obedience to the Civil Authorities and civil law
is the proper course for a Christian. However, this is always preached in the context
that the civil authorities and the law do not require of the Christian that which is
contrary to Gods Will. Hence, the Christians living in Nazi Germany or Communist
Russia were required to disobey those governments when they demanded unChristian
action.
The whole history of the Church and that of the Saints and the Martyrs is one
of obedience to God even where such obedience required disobedience to the laws of
Page 35
men and nations. As long as the action being taken is one of Christian love and nonviolence in the face of the horrendous situation of abortion, a case can be made that
OPERATION RESCUE is reminiscent of historical Christian activity.
DOES ONE HAVE TO PARTICIPATE IN OPERATION RESCUE TO SERVE
THE PRO-LIFE EFFORT?
Here the answer is clearly, no. Not everyone is called by God to participate in a
sit-in demonstration and be arrested. There are even some who should not do so for
various reasons*. However, everyone can come to a RESCUE and peacefully
demonstrate in solidarity with those who are called to do so. This activity is
completely lawful and calls further public notice to the RESCUE. It may also
prevent the use of brutality by the police since the presence of witnesses often
interferes with unlawful acts of police brutality and harassment where those do take
place. If one is interested in such support activities, contact any local pro-life or
OPERATION RESCUE group for information on how to help.
WHAT ARE THE DANGERS IN OPERATION RESCUE?
Clearly, OPERATION RESCUE is not without its perils. Apart from some
appalling incidences of police brutality in many cities and towns throughout the
nation, getting arrested in this day and age has serious, far-reaching consequences
and should be undertaken only after earnest and unemotional consideration
coupled with consultation with ones spiritual counsellor.
Young people especially, can find themselves cut off from certain jobs because of
an arrest record, such as those which demand so-called security clearance.
Further, abortion advocates have instituted RICO suits and other harassing tactics
against pro-lifers who participate in RESCUES.
RESCUE IS NOT A FRIVOLOUS AND INCONSEQUENTIAL ACTIVITY!
IT SHOULD ONLY BE UNDERTAKEN AFTER THE MOST CAREFUL AND
PRAYERFUL CONSIDERATION!
CAN I PARTICIPATE IN OPERATION RESCUE AS A MEMBER OF OCLife?
If you have determined, after proper prayer and consideration, that you wish to
participate in a RESCUE, there is certainly no reason why you cannot do so as a
member of the Orthodox Church and OCLife. Be aware that some RESCUE agencies
[not all RESCUES are under OPERATION RESCUE, most are under local control]
are rather stridently fundamentalist Protestant and their leadership is reserved for
male Protestants. If, however, you merely wish to participate, this condition should
not deter you. Once a RESCUE is in progress, all such differences are lost in the
common cause.
However, it must be remembered that Orthodox Christians for Life is an
educational organization. For reasons of prudence and to protect the founders and
Page 36
members of OCLife, we ask our members who wish to participate in activities

described as civil disobedience such as OPERATION RESCUE, that they not do so
in the name of OCLife, but rather, as individual Christians. It is in this same
consideration that OCLife does not sponsor any pro-life activity [with the exception
of educational symposiums] including RESCUE, but rather encourages its members to become involved in the abortion issue through local pro-life agencies in the
capacity of their choice.
WHAT HAPPENS AT A RESCUE?
The actual events differ from RESCUE to RESCUE and may be anything from
a situation where the police ignore the demonstrators and everyone goes home after
the abortuary closes for the day, to a full-blown police action with physical violence
perpetrated against the RESCUERS. Different parts of the country as well as
different cities and localities account for the gamut of possibilities. For information
about an actual RESCUE in a particular area, it is best to contact a local group and
attend a RESCUE RALLY where one can speak to those who have been on
RESCUES and hear the details. RESCUES are not activities for individualists!
Strict discipline is maintained at all times. It is not a do your own thing scenario!
CONCLUSION:
Finally, OCLife does not take any stand with regards as to whether anyone
should or should not participate in OPERATION RESCUE. That is beyond our
competence as an organization. We do believe that the tactics of OPERATION
RESCUE, as long as they remain peaceful, non-violent and loving - which they are
at present - reflect the best tradition of the Orthodox Church. Having spoken with
quiet, middle-aged Catholic laywomen who have gone to jail in Rikers Island (New
York City) and ministered to the poor women within that miserable institution (and,
consequently won such respect that they were given a standing ovation by usually
rowdy male prisoners), we cannot but believe that the members of OPERATION
RESCUE - in the great majority - represent the best tradition of Christianity and
no one should be ashamed to be among them, people, priest or bishop.
{*Persons who, for reasons of psychological aberration, find a thrill in pain, fear
and/or getting arrested, or those who desire to atone for past sins (such as having
had an abortion) without having first availed themselves of the healing Sacrament
of Confession and Absolution, are advised NOT to participate in RESCUE. Such
persons should limit themselves to peripheral involvement such as support prayerpicketing. Any attempt to derive psychological pleasure or expiation from such an
activity can lead to even greater sickness and pain. OPERATION RESCUE is
designed to SAVE BABIES, not to be a drug or a crutch for those with special
spiritual and psychological needs.}
Page 37
To Reflect On:
The Prophecy of St. Nilus the Myrrh-gusher:
(A 16th Century Orthodox prophecy as reported in several Orthodox publications)
After the year 1900, toward the middle of the 20th century, the people of that
time will become unrecognizable. When the time for the advent of the Antichrist
approaches, peoples minds will grow cloudy from carnal passions, and dishonour
and lawlessness will grow stronger. Then the world will become unrecognizable.
Peoples appearances will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from
women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair. These people will be
cruel and will be like wild animals because of the temptations of the Antichrist.
There will be no respect for parents and elders, love will disappear, and Christian
pastors, bishops, and priests will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish
the right hand way from the left. At that time the morals and traditions of Christians
and of the Church will change. People will abandon modesty, and dissipation will
reign. Falsehood and greed will attain great proportions, and woe to those who pile
up treasure. Lust, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds, and murder will rule in
society.
At that future time, due to the power of such great crimes and licentiousness,
people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they received in Holy,
Baptism, and equally of remorse. The Churches of God will be deprived of Godfearing and pious pastors, and woe to the Christians remaining in the world at that
time; they will completely lose their faith because they will lack the opportunity of
seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all. Then they will separate themselves
out of the world in holy refuges in search of lightening of their spiritual sufferings,
but everywhere they will meet obstacles and constraints. And all this will result
from the fact that the Antichrist wants to be lord over everything and become the
ruler of the whole universe, and he will produce myriads and fantastic signs. He will
also give depraved wisdom to an unhappy man so that he will discover a way by
which one man can carry on a conversation with another from one end of the earth
to the other. At that time men will also fly through the air like birds and descend to
the bottom of the sea like fish. And when they have achieved all this, these unhappy
people will spend their lives in comfort without knowing, poor souls, that it is the
deceit of the Antichrist. And, the impious one! - he will so confuse science with vanity
that it will go off the right path and lead people to lose faith in the existence of God
in three hypostasis.
Then the All-good God will see the down fall of the human race and will shorten
the days for the sake of those few who are being saved, because the enemy wants to
lead even the chosen into temptation, if that is possible Then the sword of
chastisement will suddenly appear and kill the perverter and his servants.
Page 38
A Plea for a Consistent Sanctity of Life Perspective

In any debate over abortion, the use of photographs of aborted unborn children
usually evokes strong negative reactions. This phenomonon is quite puzzling in
light of the visual publicity accorded to Nazi attrocities against the Jews, massacres
in Vietnam and Central America or even the gruesome bludgeoning of Harp Seal
pups by hunters. These images are shown again and again to underscore the horrors
associated with them.
However, when shown a picture such as the aborted child on the right, many
people are shocked, offended and very often severely criticize those who use such
pictures to educate about the fundamental horror of abortion. These photographs
are usually described as obscene, in bad taste and unsuitable for viewing. As well,
the media suppresses this evidence . . .
It seems to me there is something wrong in all this. We put up with all sorts of
graphic violence in the media. But when it comes to abortion, there is great
intolerance shown even among those who object to the killing of the unborn. And
Page 39
rather than reacting against the act, more often than not hostility is directed to those
exhibiting pictures which expose the evil.
Why this double standard? Why the hypocrisy? Where is the compassion for this
child? Who will love this child with the Love of Christ? Can anyone give a rational
explanation of the psychology involved?
Every human being
who has been, is being, or ever will be
conceived
is a unique creation of God
and, once gone, will never be
again . . .
John Protopapas
A Commmentary
Who has not seen the pictures of children suffering the ravages of war, disease
and famine? Whose heart does not go out to these dying and dead - limbs blown off,
faces mutilated, skeletal bodies covered with flies and dung? Who complains that
such sights offend when they appear in newspapers and magazines or on television?
These grisly images are expressly intended to shock as part of a calculated effort
to elicit a strong emotional response. Why? Obviously so that the viewer is incited to
help either by donating money or pressuring politicians to intervene to stop the
slaughter. In other words, pictures of suffering and dead infants and children are
premeditatedly used as propaganda objects to further a desired social/political
cause. Everyone knows this is so, but no one objects because the cause involved is
usually considered worthy and just.
However, there is one cause where the pictures are not shown - in fact, they are
forbidden, censored and banned. Whenever that cause is the subject of debate, those
who champion these dying and dead children are specifically instructed, no
pictures! But how can this be when the utilization of such pictures is a routine part
of so many social/political causes? Simply put, it is because this cause - the campaign
against abortion - is not politically correct and those who advocate abortion rights
greatly fear that the pictures of aborted babies would elicit that same strong
emotional response from the public that arises out of other similar displays. And as
the media is irredeemably pro-abortion, Americans have been in the past and
continue to be in the present, denied the truth about what abortion actually does as
indisputably manifested, confirmed and illustrated by the pictures.
Oh, there are excuses given for this blatant censorship: the pictures of aborted
babies are obscene (the babies are naked; they are also decapitated, dismembered
and burned); they are offensive (it is the reality that they represent, not they, that
offends). Children would be shocked (it is adults who would be shocked and that is
what abortion advocates fear) and, of course, the most ridiculous excuse, television
Page 40
is not allowed(?!) to show such obscene, offensive and shocking pictures.

Apologists for the murder of the unborn declare that abortion is and must
continue to be a matter of free choice. Yet, they deliberately interfere with that
choice by censoring from the public forum one side of the issue because they fear
exposure of abortion through the publication of the pictures of its victims. As long
as those victims remain a mere intellectual concept - that is, they remain silent and
invisible- the debate over abortion will remain just that, a debate. The commitment
on either side will remain numerically with abortion supporters who know of its evil
but support it anyway for financial or ideological reasons. If, however, the American
public actually sees the truth about abortion through the wide-spread distribution
of the pictures of its victims, their propaganda about the benign nature and the
benefits of the procedure will be revealed as the frightful lie that it is. That is why
they must censor the pictures.
Americans must demand, in the name of truth and justice that the mass media
SHOW THE PICTURES! by Valerie Protopapas
Orthodox Doctrines on the Sanctity of Life

and
The Opportunity for Evangelization
The Orthodox Church in the United States has for the last several years been
focused on evangelization in accordance with the command of our Lord to go and
make disciples of all nations. Unfortunately, those efforts seem to have been
primarily directed at unchurched persons of suitable ethic background while
evangelization of the American culture has been largely an exercise in contemplation rather than action. In fact, conversions of persons from non-Orthodox cultures
continue to be more in the manner of the convert seeking the Church than vice versa.
One reason why Orthodox evangelization has been so fruitless in this nation is
that many Orthodox do not know how best to get Churchs message to the culture
and, indeed, this is a profound dilemma. The Church speaks to the world in three
ways: worship, theology and ethics-morals. When Christianity held sway in the
culture, worship and theology were virtually the only means of evangelization as
they defined the Orthodox Church in contrast to all others. On the other hand, the
ethical and moral doctrines of Christianity, East and West, were absolute and
presented no real means of evangelization The tenets of Scripture on these matters
were unfailingly taught whatever differences existed in theology and worship
among the religious bodies of the day.
But that is not the case today. With the secularization (and many believe
demonization) of the culture and the disintegration of Western Christianity,
worship and theology have become almost useless as tools of widespread evangelization even though they remain useful in certain limited circumstances. But
consider: how can one appeal to religious illiterates through the use of Trinitarian
doctrine or pagans through discussion of Christian worship? On the other hand, the
Page 41
ethical-moral leg of the Apostolic triad has become immensely important for the
great social issues of the day - and especially abortion - seize and hold the attention
of millions of people. The position of an individual or group on these issues directly
affects the amount of exposure to the culture accorded them by the media and the
strength of that individual or groups commitment to the issues is general judged by
how strongly their position is expressed. As a result, a strong, high-profile stand
against abortion and in favor of the sanctity of human life will necessarily
attract the attention of millions.
Of course, most of that exposure and a considerable amount of the attention it
garners will be negative but that is not always unfortunate. Many who strongly
support abortion are actually better people than those who are indifferent and
apathetic to the systematic murder of unborn children. These people desperately
need to be released from delusion and, more often than not, healed of whatever sins
have made them pro-death in the first place. But once they are healed and have
received the Peace of Christ, they quite often become the strongest workers for the
cause of life and excellent Christians in the bargain.
Consider, too, those who would be drawn to the strong pro-life stand of the Church
because they are pro-life themselves and work diligently in that area. Often they are
Christians suffering from their own denominations pro-choice position. But even
many Roman Catholics are unhappy with the lack of enthusiastic support they get
for their commitment to life from American Catholicism. That disappointment
together with other problems they have with the Novos Ordo Church makes them
eminently open to the orthodoxy Orthodoxy offers. As for the unchurched within
the pro-life movement: the Orthodox Church represents a great gift from God, a
reward for their faithfulness to His Little Ones. In short, whether the attention
gained from a strong stand on the abortion issue is negative or positive, there will
be a gathering of souls into the Church.
Unquestionably, these great social issues offer the Church the means by which
to begin serious evangelization. Primarily, they present opportunities for exposure
to the culture in ways far more meaningful than ethnic festivals and halupki sales.
Such exposure is paramount for evangelization since our continued obscurity is
perhaps our greatest disadvantage. Light hidden under a bushel cannot light the
world. Further, our relatively few numbers are less important in this area because
the issues themselves - and especially abortion - are so controversial that even small
groups - provided they are bold - gain publicity all out of proportion to their size.
However, in order to utilize Orthodoxys moral doctrines for the cause of
evangelization, a concerted campaign must be waged on every level and at
every opportunity to promote and publicize the Churchs position on the
sanctity of innocent human life. Metropolitans, archbishops, bishops, priests,
seminaries, monasteries and laity must be highly visible in this battle otherwise,
our efforts will be totally (and rightly) discounted as the mere recitation of
meaningless cant and become a sterile exercise in futility.
Most importantly, the Church must not fear those who are presently considered
Orthodox who may be scandalized and leave the Church because of this public
witness. Those who cannot accept Orthodox doctrine on ethics and morals as well
Page 42
as theology are Orthodox in name only and their departure is merely a physical
manifestation of that which has already occurred spiritually. To hold hostage the
entire Church in an effort to placate such people is an apostasy and a sin against the
Holy Spirit who demands that the Church witnesses the Truth whatever the
consequences- yes, even to the loss of numbers and the revenue those numbers
generate.
The embarkation on such a great Evangelical effort will insure that the Orthodox
Church in America will gather converts and incur criticism, be bestowed with
blessings and reviled with curses - evangelization is not a safe activity. Yet, as in
all of history, the Church must be willing to endure the latter in order to obtain the
former. That is Her reason for existence.
by Valerie Protopapas
The Personal Testimony of Vera Lord

The following autobiography is a true story. It is a tragedy familiar to anyone who has worked
in the pro-life movement and the saddest thing is that it continues and will continue until and
unless the slaughter ends. Could an energetic witness to the sanctity of human life and other
moral doctrines of the Orthodox Church have prevented this tragedy? And might not such a
witness prevent similar tragedies in the future? The unfortunate thing is that we will never know
the truth about that until such a witness exists in both the Church and the culture; it is even more
unfortunate that that strong witness becomes less probable with every passing day.
I have a small ghost who follows me everywhere. He changes. Sometimes hes an infant,
sometimes a toddler, sometimes - mostly now - hes a teenage boy.
I was 34 when I killed my child. If I had allowed him to live, he would have been born in
August, just like his mother. There is not a moment of my life that he is not with me. Our
relationship has changed. In the past, I always saw him as my accuser or my judge. Today, my
murdered child is no longer my judge, but a sad regretful ghost, whose smile I have never seen.
I was 21 weeks pregnant. I had felt movement. There is no easy it was just a piece of tissue
argument for me. One more week, and I would have been beyond the legal limit for abortion in
the state where I lived. There are many so-called mitigating factors that led to my killing my
baby at 21 weeks of life:
Until three days before the abortion, I did not know I was pregnant. I had had three negative
pregnancy tests and thought my growing stomach was a tumor similar to those that had killed
several in my family. The movement I felt I dismissed as gas. Having no idea of my condition,
I had continued to smoke three packs of cigarettes a day and abuse alcohol and drugs - mostly
methamphetamines. I was in a dysfunctional abusive marriage and my baby was not conceived
in love - he was conceived in extreme violence.
I was going to leave out all three of the above, but I have told you about them for a very
important reason: The abortion industry would cite any and all of the above as reason enough to
kill my child, since they consider any inconvenient pregnancy abortable and, although mine
Page 43
was not life-threatening to me, it went far beyond inconvenient. Those who practice abortion
would have you believe that all three of these factors absolve me of guilt, and make the murder
of my child perfectly all right - rather like the extraction of an impacted wisdom tooth - painful
and regrettable and stressful, but totally necessary.
Well-meaning friends have all at one time or another said things like this: With all the
nicotine, alcohol, and drugs, you would have had a seriously damaged child - abortion was the
kind thing to do. Considering who the father was, the child couldve been a serial killer - better
to abort. It was the result of a near-rape in a violent, abusive marriage - better to abort. You
were forced into it by your crazy ex when you were in a weakened condition - youre not
responsible anyhow. You did the best and only thing you could do - get on with your life.
You see? I have to tell you my story, because, if any case exemplifies a supposed guiltfree
abortion, it is mine. Ive heard every rationalization - every single one. I have lived behind the
feel-good, warm and fuzzy walls of public opinion, political correctness, and conventional
wisdom - and I am here to tell you it is all unmitigated [absolute nonsense].
Every pro-abortion argument is a lie. You probably think that I am about to take all the
abortion industry slogans and dissect them one by one, winning each point with flawless logic,
like a good political debate- I dont need to do that - You already know. I already knew. We are
female. It is our nature to be mothers. Our mothering can vary from cold indifference to
smothering adulation, but mothers we are. We cannot fathom the horror of a Susan Smith, who
can put her two little boys in a car and push it into a lake. We see her as another species - a creature
in a horror film.
I have a theory. I have lost many friends by openly espousing this theory, so read on at your
own risk. Despite the fact that we are now highly-evolved, computer-using intellectuals, I believe
that the primitive part of our brain, the part that is pure instinct, is alive and well. Case in point:
At age 13, I developed a crush on a 15 year-old boy. I proceeded to seduce him. No sex, this was
1961, - what I mean is - I seduced him. All the glances, all the subtle moves, the whole female
arsenal. All that ancient primal knowledge was just suddenly there - pure gut-level instinct,
coming from some part of my brain that had, until that moment, lain totally dormant.
I may as well have started conversing fluently in Mandarin Chinese. I just, inexplicably, knew
how. I believe that on the same primal gut level, we all know - really know - that abortion is murder
at its most horrific. Telling ourselves that it is anything else is pure denial. All the careful layers
of makeup we blend over it are for naught. We know it for what it is. And that pure
soul-knowledge cannot be erased or eradicated by all the feel-good rationalizations on earth.
Self-hatred may be the worst sin - I know it is certainly the worst feeling. After I killed my
baby, self-hatred became my whole life. Subconsciously, I thought suicide to be too easy an out
(much like the notion that lethal injection is too easy a punishment for many really brutal
murderers). So I did not kill my physical body as I had killed my child - instead I committed
emotional and spiritual suicide.
I created a whole new personality. Since then, I have had psychiatrists tell me that what I did
was not unusual - very similar to child abuse victims, who split-off, and become another
personality in order to deal with the abuse.
During the next 17 years, there were many times when I literally did not know the person in
the mirror. Self-hatred colored my every waking and sleeping moment. It was as if I had pushed
an invisible self-destruct button. I divorced my husband only to enter into a disastrous marriage
with a man I did not love, who I knew to be totally dependent and incapable of honest work, and
Page 44
proceeded to allow myself to be used by him and his family for 13 years. Deep inside, I was
convinced I deserved all of it. My self-worth had totally disappeared. All the things I had loved
to do in my old life were now off-limits - I would not allow myself enjoyment. Dreamless sleep
was my only respite, and it did not come often. When I did pray, it was a secret prayer - I prayed
to die -to simply cease. I believe in an after-life, and I knew that hell itself could not be any worse
than the life I was experiencing.
The pain would lie in wait and ambush me at unexpected times. A scene on TV, a passage in
a book - always about someones missed chance at being a mother. I would be overcome by the
kind of racking sobs that are more like spasms than crying. I wanted to just lie down and go to
sleep and never get up. I lived in this self-imposed hell for 16 years.
Then, in 1997 a heart condition Id had since childhood became suddenly worse, and I decided
to move back to the east coast to die. As always, I was last on my own priority list. My main reason
for the move was so that the leech Id married would have a better chance at getting work after
I was gone.
Living again on the east coast and in the same state where Id had a happy youth was like
sprinkling water on a nearly-dead plant. The total change in environment created the first crack
in my shell of self-hatred. I slowly began to feel like me again.
In the fall of 1997, came the event that finally set me free. I was taken as a guest to the
All-Saints Greek Orthodox Church. Although, in my youth, I had studied nearly every major
religion, I had never entered an Orthodox Christian Church. Suddenly, I was home. All the pieces
of my life fell into place. Although I really knew no one there except my host, it was undeniably
my home. I took instruction with my Spiritual Father for the next 10 months, and on August 28,
1998, I was chrismated. At the confession before my chrismation, I finally, after nearly two
decades of wandering in hell, laid down my burden. My Spiritual Father, an Orthodox priest who
can trace his priesthood in a direct line to the Apostles, in much the same ceremony performed
in the Catacombs, laid his hand on my head, and, in Christs name, forgave me of the murder of
my child. I am free.
Regaining my self-love has led to my regaining something else that I thought was lost forever.
I have entered into a loving relationship with the most wonderful man in the world and I am truly
blessed. I am indeed free.
Which brings me to the reason I am telling you my story. When I first began classes in the
Orthodox religion, I read everything I could about Orthodox views on everything. All that I read
said that Orthodox Christians were anti-abortion. I asked when and where does the local
Orthodox Right-to-Life group meet? Huge faux pas - vaguely akin to a loud burp at a
sophisticated cocktail party. I am a very fast learner- I never make the same social error twice.
I circled warily around the issue, and, by bits and pieces, I learned that the charitable
organizations, the food festival committees, the fund-raisers, were all politically correct. Even
the occasional weekend retreat at the monastery, as I was in the habit of doing, was just fine. But,
abortion? Its no ones business and each womans private choice - now tell me again, which
food festival committee are you joining?
Excuse me, but it is my business. It is not your private choice to kill your baby, and, if I can
persuade you not to commit the same awful life-ruining act that I did, it is my duty to do so.
There is a huge echoing silence from the Orthodox Church on abortion. Strange, but everyone
who tells me that its a womans private choice is a mother and/or grandmother. Perhaps they
fear their daughters or granddaughter may be faced with a life-disrupting pregnancy and want an
Page 45
escape hatch.
As it turned out, the baby I murdered was my last chance. I am an only child of an only child,
who had me late in life. All of my relatives are dead. I am divorced. I have no legal or biological
family. I am 52 years old, and I am no ones daughter, sister, cousin,most of all, I am no ones
mother,niece, wife, and at this point, youre probably thinking heres the part where Ill be asked
to join some group, make my voice heard, etc., etc. Wrong.
Youve just read my story. I murdered my child. Because of that act, I spent 18 years in the
depths of hell itself, and did a pretty good job of murdering my own soul. And yet, the first time
a dearly-valued friend said to me, its nobodys business - its the womans own private choice,
dont you agree? (This was exactly like someone telling a holocaust survivor, with a number
tattooed on their forearm, that the holocaust was a myth and didnt they agree?) What do you
suppose, considering what you know about me - what do you suppose I said?? I said nothing. To
my eternal shame, I said nothing. I did the cowardly, socially-acceptable thing, and politely
changed the subject.
Im not asking you to march in parades and wave placards and sign petitions or even to put
a bumper sticker on your car. I cant do any of those things. I am not a placard waving, inyour-face
activist. Here it is: The next time anyone, even a dearly-valued friend or family member tells you
Its a womans choice, dont say anything. Just give them a copy of this article. If reading this
can make one person even just begin to reconsider their Pro-Choice position, I have succeeded.
I would give my own life to be able to go back in time and allow my child to live. I cannot.
I pray that your showing someone - just one person - this story will cause someone to stop and
reconsider before they perform the same horrible act that killed my child and nearly killed me.
I need no perfect, logical arguments. You know, in your soul, that abortion is the murder of
your baby. In the name of 2,000 years of Orthodox Christianity, I say now, break your silence
and speak - not in parades and demonstrations, but quietly, as you are reading this now - one child
of God at a time.
Written by my hand and published at my request,
Vera Lord
Bethel Park, Pa
Page 46
Abortion Quiz
(answer True or False)
1]
2]
3]
4]
5]
6]
7]
8]
9]
10]
11]
12]
13]
14]
15]
16]
17]
18]
19]
20]
21]
22]
23]
24]
25]
Abortion on demand (no medical reason) is available through all nine

months of pregnancy.
T____
States may only regulate abortion in the last two trimesters by defining
by whom and where an abortion may be performed.
T____
Physicians must inform a woman about the abortion procedure
(informed consent).
T____
If a child is viable (able to live outside the womb) the state may make
laws to protect the childs life if it is aborted alive.
T____
Most abortions are performed in doctors offices.
T____
Over 4500 children are aborted daily in the United States.
T____
A minor child (under 18 years of age) must obtain parental permission
before having an abortion.
T____
A minor child (under 18 years of age) must obtain parental permission
before having her ears pierced.
T____
Many states pay for abortion for women on welfare.
T____
The new health care plan being drawn up by the administration will
probably include coverage for abortion.
T____
The father of an unborn child must be consulted before an abortion is
he is married to the mother.
T____
Abortion is a form of contraception.
T____
Since 1974, 1.6 million children have been annually aborted in the
United States alone.
T____
Abortion is usually safer than childbirth.
T____
At 24 days an unborn child has a heartbeat and at 5 weeks
brainwaves comparable to an adult human being.
T____
Most abortions take place at around 12 weeks (3 months).
T____
Abortion is a multi-million dollar industry in the United States.
T____
Married women with no money problems arent having abortions.
T____
New York State pays over $18 million a year in Medicaid abortions.
T____
Planned Parenthood is the worlds largest promoter and provider of
abortion.
T____
Abortion is the best solution for a crisis pregnancy.
T____
Except in rare cases, there are no physical or psychological aftereffects
of an abortion
T____
Abortion has always been a recognized constitutional right.
T____
Aborting unwanted children has lowered the rate of child abuse in the
United States.
T____
Abortion-on-demand is supported by most Americans.
T____
Answers below
Page 47
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
F____
About Orthodox Christians for Life

Orthodox Christians for Life (OCLife) is a non-profit rel;igious educational Pro-Life
organization consisting of members primarily from the Eastern Orthodox Church
which is recognized as a fourth major faith in the United States. OCL was founded in
early 1986 by Rev. Edward Pehanich an Orthodox priest of the Amercan CarpathoRussian jurisdiction and John Protopapas, now a Subdeacon of the Orthodox Church in
America. It functions in cooperation with the hierarchy, clergy, and laity of the Orthodox Church regardless of jurisdiction or geographical location; and supports the
doctrines and canons of the Church. The organization consists of over 700 members
(including four chapters) in the United States, Canada, and England as of March 2001.
It is also open to interested non-Orthodox Christians on an affiliate basis. OClife
maintains a web page: www.oclife.org and an E-Mail address: oclifehq@aol.com.
Our Vision
The aims and goals of Orthodox Christians for Life are as follows:
(1) To present and support the position of the Orthodox Church on matters of the sanctity of
innocent human life to all peoples, Orthodox Christian and non-Orthodox alike. This includes not
only abortion, but also euthanasia, infanticide (pediatric euthanasia), suicide, and child abuse.
(2) To initiate and encourage education and energize action on all issues of sanctity of human
life in all Orthodox parishes regardless of jurisdiction.
(3) To act as a clearing house for information relating to sanctity of life issues for the Orthodox
Christian community.
(4) To aid an assist all those who wish to establish sanctity of life programs or Pro-Life groups
on a parish, diocesan, or archdiocesan level and to have representatives available to work with those
who wish to establish such programs.
(5) To reiterate and underscore traditional Christian values such as the sanctity of marriage, the
blessing of children, the holiness of chastity (both in and out of marriage), the honoring of parents,
the love of ones neighbor, and of course, the sanctity of all innocent human life regardless of age
or condition of health.
(6) To work in a cooperative spirit with all Pro-Life organizations, regardless of religious
affiliation, providing they espouse a complimentary sanctity of life ethic. In this area we serve as
a unique witness to the teachings of the Early Christian Church.
(7) To present the Orthodox position on these issues to the secular culture.
Examples of our activities include the recent coordination and creation of an Amicus
Brief submitted to the United States Supreme Court (February 23, 1989) on behalf of the
Orthodox Church which supports the State of Missouri (Webster Case) in the effort to
overturn Roe v. Wade. Since 1986 we have coordinated the Orthodox Christian presence
in the annual January 22 March for Life in Washington, DC.
The years 1989 and 1990 saw four Orthodox bishops (offices as of 1990) participating
in the March for Life: Bishop Herman (OCA), Bishop Nathaniel (OCA), Bishop Nicholas
(American Carpatho-Russian), and Bishop Maximos (Greek Archdiocese); in 1996 there
were over 400 bishops, clergy, and lay from various parts of the United States participatPage 48
ing. In recent hears the usual participation has been two hundred,
Orthodox Christians for Life is primarily a religious-educational organization and
does not organize marches, demonstrations, or sit-ins; however, we do participate in
such Pro-Life events as a group, or as individuals, providing they are peaceful and do
not conflict with Church doctrine.
A yearly subscription to our newsletter, Rachels Children is $5.00 per year; a
suggested minimum membership contribution is $10.00 year and includes the newsletter. Recognition pins are available for $6.00. All donations and membership funds made
out to: Orthodox Christians for Life (in U.S. Dollars). Please allow 6-8 weeks .
If you are interested in Orthodox Christians for Life write to: Valerie Protopapas,
Executive Secretary, P.O. Box 805, Melville, NY 11747 or Phone (631) 271-4408. E-mail:
oclifehq@aol.com.
Staff
Rev. Deacon John Protopapas,
National Director and Co-founder
Rev. Fr. Edward Pehanich,
Spiritual Director and Co-Founder
Matushka Valerie Protopapas,
Educational Director, Executive Secretary, and Co-Founder
V. Rev. John Kowalczyk,
Theological Consultant
Mr. James George Jatras, Esq.,
Legislative Director and Legal Adviser
Dr. Peter S. Rosi, MD
Medical Consultant
Mr. Paul Tish
Internet Webmaster
Page 49
OCLife Operating Guidelines:

(1) The organization known as Orthodox Christians for Life shall be in conformity
with the canons and teachings of the Holy Orthodox Church and shall meet the criteria
outlined above.
(2) Full membership in Orthodox Christians for Life is reserved to those who are
baptized, chrismated, and communicating members of the Orthodox Church, regardless of jurisdiction; associate membership is available to Christians who are not
Orthodox. Area representatives or contacts shall be established in key geographical
locations to serve as focal points of communications with the main office. All official
positions are non-salaried. Out of pocket expenses for work and material directly
related to the operation of Orthodox Christians for Life shall be reimbursed.
(3) A newsletter shall be published no less that three (3) time a year; it shall be titled
Rachels Children.
(4) Full membership to Orthodox Christians for Life is accorded by contributing a
desired target minimum donation of $10.00 per year per person; family memberships
are a minimum donation of $15.00 per year.; life membership is accorded to those
donating $100.00 or more; students and senior citizens are $5.00 per year; for those who
are members of OCLife chapters or affiliated groups, a minimum of $5.00 per person per
year group membership shall be available; clergy membership is a minimum of $5.00
per year; hierarchs and monastics are to be accorded complimentary membership if
desired. Membership includes a yearly subscription of the Newsletter.
(5) Orthodox Christians for Life can be also identified by the acronym - OCLife
which has been in use since 1986 and is not to be confused with another organization,
Orthodox Christian Laymen which uses the acronym (OCL) and is not involved in
sanctity of life issues.
(6) Chapter affiliation: local groups may form as chapters of Orthodox Christians for
Life; they must, in addition to conforming to the bylaws of Orthodox Christians for Life:
(a) Call themselves (Name) Orthodox Christians for Life or Orthodox
Christians for Life of (Name) [ eg: AnyplaceOrthodox Christians for Life or
Orthodox Christian for Life of Anyplace] ; there must be no ethnic or
jurisdictional connotations to the appended name.
(b) Not advocate, endorse, sponsor, initiate, or willfully participate in
any violent action and maintain membership in Orthodox Christians for
Life.
(c) Not sponsor, endorse, or directly participate in acts of civil disobedience as representing the parent group, Orthodox Christians for Life;
they, however, may as individuals, participate in, or sponsor, peaceful
non-violent forms of protest and acts of civil disobedience as their
conscience dictates. There is no prohibition as to mentioning that they
Page 50
belong to Orthodox Christians for Life, but they may not claim to act in
its name.
(d) Chapters are responsible for their finances and electing their own
officers. They are to periodically report their activities and progress for
publication in our newsletter Rachels Children.
(7) Affiliates or Chapters may not exclusively form under ethnic or jurisdictional
lines. They may form on an individual parish or diocesan basis, providing membership
is open to all Orthodox Christians in the surrounding geographical area who wish to
participate in the local activities.
(8) Membership in Orthodox Christians for Life is world wide and is not strictly
limited to the United States and Canada.
(9) No member of Orthodox Christians for Life may take any unilateral action or
claim to speak on behalf of the parent organization without first consulting and
obtaining the written permission of the following staff members: (1) Executive Director
and (2) Spiritual Advisor.
(10) Orthodox Christians for Life as an organization shall not affiliate with any
secular organizations; it shall be free to work with Pro-life organizations for the
purposes of a common Pro-Life witness, but shall remain independent in its actions,
ultimately submitting itself only to conformity to the doctrines and canons of the Holy
Orthodox Church. Individuals may personally affiliate with any other Pro-life organization as they see fit providing that they conform to the aforementioned guidelines.
Furthermore, in ecumenical encounters, we do not ascribe to the concept of denominationalism, but maintain in all love and humility that the Orthodox Church is the one
true Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Thus, we consider ourselves to be a communion or a religious body, but not a denomination.
(11) The logo for Orthodox Christians for Life shall be that used on the prosphora
(eucharistic bread), signifying that we are a eucharistic community gathered around the
center of our lives, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who is the Bread of Life; said
logo shall appear on any recognition pin, masthead of newsletters, business cards, and
official letterheads.
aff
Parent Group mailing address:
P.O. Box 805, Melville, NY 11747
The central office is physically located at:
14 Peartree Lane
Huntington Station, NY 11746
Phone: (631) 271-4408
Page 51
General Discussion:
Although most of those who belong to Orthodox Christians for Life do so on the
basis of individual membership, there are times when a group of people on the parish
or diocesan level wish to integrate those individual memberships into a Chapter. The
benefits of such an arrangement are numerous, not the least being a stronger voice in
the parish, diocese and local pro-life arena.
Orthodox Christians for Life (OCLife) was conceived as an organization of loosely
joined chapters with the central head located on Long Island, New York. At the time of
its inception, the founders of OCLife recognized that there was no way the limited
group comprising the leadership of the organization could actively pursue the Orthodox sanctity of life witness throughout the United States [and Canada]. Therefore it
would be necessary to have an active membership working together who would be in
a position to present that witness around the country.
The ultimate goal of Orthodox Christians for Life is to educate interested Orthodox
Christians so that they, in turn, can witness to the teachings of the Orthodox Church on
the sanctity of human life in their own area of the country. This witness should be both
to their fellow Orthodox and to the World at large. In order to do this, OCLife has
presented and will continue to present information in the form of a newsletter (Rachels
Children) and other publications containing insights and facts of interest in the pro-life
area.
Needless to say, any chapter of Orthodox Christians for Life must espouse only
those things which are in concert with the dogmas and doctrines of the Orthodox
Church and which are represented in the bylaws and statements of the national
organization. When and if any chapter or individual is in doubt as to whether a
statement or activity of said chapter or individual is in keeping with this stipulation,
they are [he is] obligated to contact the national organization for clarification of the
matter involved.
Duties of a Chapter:
Orthodox Christians for Life chapters which are formed within Churches or in some
other arrangement have duties to the parent organization which include:
(1) All publications which have in its name the title Orthodox Christians for Life
must be accurate as to content, consistent with Orthodox doctrines and reflect Christian
teachings regarding especially, the command of brotherly love. Special care must be
taken to see that nothing printed and distributed using the name of Orthodox Christians
for Life can be used to bring suit against either the parent organization, the local chapter,
or officials thereof.
(2) Similarly, all activities which are done in the name of the chapter must be legal,
even though the law may be unjust. Participation in instances of civil disobedience [such
as Operation Rescue] except when it can be proven that such participation in no way
violates any ordinance, law or regulation, local, state or federal [such as being a prayer
supporter at a Rescue] is forbidden in the name of the organization
. This stipulation is in
an effort to avoid Orthodox Christians for Life and/or any of its chapters or members
Page 52
being named in a RICO or other criminal or civil lawsuit which is a current tactic of
the abortion movement to impoverish pro-life advocates. Orthodox Christians for Life
must insist that, should any of its members wish to participate in such an activity, it must
be done on an individual basis and not be represented to the authorities or the media
as participation by the organization at the local or national level. This restriction, of
course, does not pertain to participation in any march, picket, demonstration or other
public assembly which falls within the Constitutional guarantees of the freedoms of
speech, dissent and assembly.
(3) The chapter is not obligated to financially support the national organization
unless it desires to do so. However, all chapter members must be members of the
national organization. In the case of the sale of items bearing the Orthodox Christians
for Life logo [such as the OCLife pin], the chapter will be required to reimburse the
national organization for the cost of the items plus shipping and can then use the resale
of those items locally for fund-raising should the chapter so desire. Of course, all items
bearing the Orthodox Christians for Life name and/or logo, especially those which
constitute acknowledgement of membership - such as the pin - should be sold or
distributed only to those who meet the necessary criteria for said membership. In some
cases this might include non-Orthodox individuals who have performed unusual
services to the pro-life community or who are interested in furthering the Orthodox
witness, but these things should never be considered in the same category as souvenirs which can be sold to anyone.
(4) Where there is any question regarding some function or activity by the chapter,
someone in authority within the chapter must contact the national organization for
clearance. This is especially important where there is any possible legal consequence of
the chapters or members involvement. Orthodox Christians for Life does have two
attorneys on its board who can rule on the legal consequences of intended actions by
either the national organization or any of its chapters; as well, our clergy representatives
may do the same for any spiritual suitability.
(5) The local chapter must work in concert with the Church at the parish, diocesan
and national level, whatever the jurisdiction involved. In so saying, however, we
recognize that not all parish priests or diocesan functionaries view the pro-life movement in a favorable light. It is therefore important that we treat these situations in a
loving Christian fashion, at least avoiding open confrontation and bitterness. The
national organization will be happy to assist local chapters with any internecine
difficulties where possible and to provide suggestions and any other help which might
be of use in such a situation. There is, at the present, a good working relationship
between Orthodox Christians for Life and most of the jurisdictions of the Orthodox
Church in the United States.
(6) Chapters must remember that Orthodox Christians for Life is a volunteer, nonprofit religious-educational organization. Any activities designed to raise funds should
be for the chapters day to day operational expenses or to support Pro-Life efforts within
and outside the Orthodox Church.
Page 53
Responsibilities of National Organization to Local Chapter:

The national organization of Orthodox Christians for Life is obligated to assist its
chapters in such ways as:
(1) Presenting said chapters with a copy of the organizations bylaws upon request
and all statements which have been issued by Orthodox Christians for Life pertaining
to the teaching of the Orthodox Church on abortion, euthanasia, etc. where available.
Furthermore, any future publications by the national organization will be made
available to said chapters at cost and all those publications, statements, etc. which are
not under copyright can be reproduced and distributed by the chapters without
recourse to the national organization. However, there must be credit to the source and/
or author.
(2) Answering in a timely way any inquiries or requests from chapters. Where a
delay in answering becomes inevitable for reasons beyond human control, the national
organization will inform the interested chapter as to the nature and probable length of
the delay.
(3) The national organization will make every attempt to assist a chapter with any
difficulties it may encounter in its operation. However, it is to be understood that
chapters should make every attempt to function without recourse to the national
organization except on an emergency basis.
These are the basic blueprints for establishing a local chapter of Orthodox Christians
for Life. OCLife is not a highly structured organization and is easily adaptable to the
needs of almost every situation. Where formation within a local parish is, for some
reason undesirable or impossible, a chapter may still be formed by interested Orthodox
external of the parish structure. A case can be made for the superiority of several smaller
chapters rather than one large one, however, if fragmentation presents problems of
involvement and/or member participation, then the opposite may be true. It is up to the
individual members to decide which, in their situation, is best.
For further questions or objections to the contents of these guidelines contact: John
Protopapas (631) 271-4408 - 6:30-10:30PM on weekends 7:00AM to 5:00PM Sat. or Sun.
2:00-10:30PM (Eastern Time); Email: oclifehq@aol.com
Page 54
Recommended Further Reading for the Basics:

Orthodox:
The Sacred Gift of Life
ISBN = 0-88141-183-3, St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 320 pp,
Focuses on the unprecedented advances
in bioethics over the past 30 years based
on Scripture and Patristic tradition. It provides an overview of major theological
themes that condition any Orthodox response to issues involving the creation
and termination of human life.
V.Rev John Breck,
An Orthodox Perspective on Abortion
V.Rev John Kowalczyk, Light and Life
Contemporary Moral Issues

Life
Rev. Dr. Stanley Harakas, Light and
Life Transfigured (Ethics and Moral Theology) Rev. Dr. Harakas, Light and Life
Abortion, Oikonomia, and the Hard Cases
Matushka Valerie Protopapas, OCLife
Rachels Children(newsletter)

(OCLife)
P.O. Box 805
Melville, NY 11747-0805
Non-Orthodox
Why not Love Them Both`
Dr.&Mrs J.C. Wilke,

Hayes Publishing Co.
6304 Hamilton Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45224
(513) 681-7559
Abortion and the Early Church
M.J. Gorman, InterVarsity Press
Human Existence, Medicine, and Ethics
WilliamE.May,FransicanHeraldPress,
1434 W. 51 St, Chicago, Il 60609
Page 55
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The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

2002 Orthodox Christians for Life

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

Abortion: An Orthodox Christian Perspective on the

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

continence from the beginning instead of destroying, through immoral

The Council of Ancyra, Canon 21-314/315A.D

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

Quinsext Ecumenical Council, Canon 91-691 A. D.

What the Modern Church Says:

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

their embryonic development.

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

General Assembly of the Antiochian Archdiocese - 1989:

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

WHEREAS, before the end of this century, do-it-yourself abortion will

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

Abortion is not a political issue,

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

WHAT ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS CAN DO ABOUT ABORTION:

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

choice. The Orthodox Faith must provide a choice.

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

belong to groups and organizations which champion abortion such as the

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

It isnt a baby, its a blob of tissue, a parasite, a product of conception,

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

Limitation or prohibition of abortion will increase the incidence of child

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

A Response to Recent Violence Associated with the

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

WHAT ABOUT OPERATION RESCUE?

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

members of OCLife, we ask our members who wish to participate in activities

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

A Plea for a Consistent Sanctity of Life Perspective

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics

The Orthodox Christians for LifeProLife Handbook: The Basics

is not allowed(?!) to show such obscene, offensive and shocking pictures.

Orthodox Doctrines on the Sanctity of Life

The Orthodox Christians for Life ProLife Handbook: The Basics